Bitter Chocolate: A Story of Domination

A number of mid-20th century philosophers wrestled with the tension between the apparent promise of rationality and control through enlightenment, on the one hand, and the grim and violent reality of the world they were witnessing, on the other. They observed that one propelling force and byproduct of enlightenment was the domination of other humans and of nature. Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno claimed,

Human beings have always had to choose between their subjugation to nature and its subjugation to the self (Adorno & Horkheimer, 25)

When humans began their march towards enlightenment, they inevitably began dominating nature and one another. Horkheimer and Adorno said, “What human beings seek to learn from nature is how to use it to wholly dominate both it and human beings. Nothing else counts” (Adorno & Horkheimer, 2). This distinction between the dominators and the dominated was further defined as systems of economic production came about and were controlled by a powerful minority. Horkheimer and Adorno refer to these people as “masters of society” who have “the superfluous remainder” (by which they mean everyone else) “at their disposal … to operate the machines” (Adorno & Horkheimer, 30).

Martin Heidegger’s analysis focused on the process of enframing, “the gathering together of that setting-upon which sets upon man, i.e., challenges him forth, to reveal the real, in the mode of ordering, as standing-reserve” (Heidegger, 20). Heidegger was concerned that enframing (objectification and oversimplified categorization in pursuit of rationality) would inevitably lead to viewing objects as standing reserve (that is, from an instrumental point of view, a means to an end, or resources to be harnessed for production).

He saw this as a compounding issue: the more we advance technology, the faster we will continue to advance technology. The more we detach from nature, the easier and faster we will continue to detach from nature. And the more we dominate nature and one another, the more we will continue to dominate. Heidegger warned, “Yet when destining reigns in the mode of Enframing, it is the supreme danger. This danger attests itself to us in two ways. As soon as what is unconcealed no longer concerns man even as object, but does so, rather, exclusively as standing-reserve, and man in the midst of objectlessness is nothing but the orderer of the standing-reserve, then he comes the brink of a very precipitous fall; that is, he comes to the point where he himself will have to be taken as the standing reserve” (Heidegger, 26). 

Heidegger provided an example of this compounding domination predicated on compounding enframing, “The forester who, in the wood, measures the felled timber and to all its appearances walks the same forest path in the same way as did his grandfather is today commanded by profit-making in the lumber industry, whether he knows it or not. He is made subordinate to the orderability of cellulose, which for its part is challenged by the need for paper, which is then delivered to newspapers and illustrated magazines. The latter, in their turn, set public opinion to swallowing what is printed, so that a set configuration of opinion becomes available on demand. Yet precisely because man is challenged more originally than are the energies of nature, i.e., into the process of ordering, he is never transformed into mere standing reserve” (Heidegger, 18). In other words, our contemporary condition is increasingly distanced from nature, a danger that comes with the consequence of perpetuated systems of domination.

I want to accept and extend these arguments, suggesting that the systems that put some humans in the position of being dominated by others also often have the effect of leading them to, sometimes requiring them to, dominate yet other people and to dominate nature. In brief, I’ll argue that the modern mass production of chocolate can be seen as a global machine, whose economic output is an edible commodity for consumers but whose ultimate aim is the enrichment of, and domination by, the owners and producers. But this machine has other consequences as well. It runs on inputs that it dominates and damages or destroys: nature (land and crops) and humans (smallholder farmers). My thesis is that those dominated farmers are also compelled by this machine to dominate others and nature, including their own children and their own land.

Chocolate producers and buyers are located almost entirely in the global north, including the United States and Western Europe.

Meanwhile, most of the cacao producers are in the global south, particularly Western Africa (note: cacao is the primary ingredient in chocolate). Cacao grows only in limited areas, about 20º north and south of the equator (Gonzalez & Goodman). Cacao production migrated to Western Africa over the past several decades and the region now grows the majority of the supply. I will focus my analysis on this area as it represents several intersecting cycles of domination.

Over the past three decades, cacao production has almost tripled in West Africa, while production in other countries has mostly remained stable. The market share that is produced by the Ivory Coast and Ghana alone has increased to 60% of all cacao production as a result (Fountain & Friedel, 12).

The reason these countries in particular have grown so much in terms of cacao production has to do with domination. As a recent industry report, Cocoa Barometer, puts it, “cacao follows poverty” (Fountain & Friedel, 12). The business model of large-scale cocoa production is poverty: the work of farming cacao pays so badly that only the poorest take up the job. There are nearly 2 million family-owned smallholder farms in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, with an average farm size of under 10 acres (O'Keefe, 60). These farmers, desperately poor and lacking power, are caught in a system that dominates them.

Cacao follows poverty (Fountain & Friedel, 12)

Extreme poverty and a lack of options draws many farmers in West Africa into cacao production. This global “machine,” run by and for the benefit of those elsewhere, dominates these local farmers and, in turn, demands that they dominate and sometimes destroy their own land. Local farmers are desperate to get as much value as possible from their limited land and are often not educated on environmentally-sustainable farming practices (Manley). Cacao is not a native plant, so West African farmers frequently engage in methods like slash-and-burn to clear their land, subsequently planting only cacao. This leads to a loss of shade trees and a lack of biodiversity.

Furthermore, as much as 700,000 tonnes of cacao may be produced illegally on protected forest land every year, one study has found (IHS Markit). Natural forest cover in the Ivory Coast and Ghana has declined by more than 70% in the past three decades, and the few remaining national forests are endangered or already damaged. Another study found that, “under 4% of Ivory Coast’s forest land remains. If this pace continues, it is predicted that there will be no rainforest left by 2030” (Daoui). The loss of biodiversity and forest cover means a loss of habitat for animals and significant population decline of many types of flora (Fountain & Friedel, 71).

Impoverished West African smallholder farmers swept up in the cacao production “machine” do more than dominate and damage their own land. They very often rely on the labor of their own (and sometimes other) children, exposing them to physical risks and interfering with their education. Because it is such a low paying job, “... many cocoa farmers in major producing countries find it difficult to find labour to work on their farms” (Fountain & Friedel, 44). Consequently, many farmers turn to their children for labor. Farmers’ children are locked into the cycle of poverty from birth, and have opportunities quickly shut out for their future as they are disallowed access to education and forced to work. Cocoa Barometer says, “Where schools are absent, children tend to work on the farms” (Fountain & Friedel, 62). A report found that 1.5 million children are working in cocoa production in Ivory Coast and Ghana, and that 95% of the child labourers are exposed to the worst forms of child labour, such as working with dangerous tools or harmful pesticides (Fountain & Friedel, 56).

When people eat chocolate, they are eating my flesh (Food Empowerment Project)

Farmers’ children aren’t the only victims of child labor though. In some cases, farmers use forced labor, taking in children from even poorer countries like Mali who are desperate for work. Poverty-stricken children from these neighboring countries frequently come to work in hopes to have money for food, but are then exploited for their labor. Farmers may even hold children captive under threat of violence while forcing them to work, and then paying them little or nothing. One former child slave said, “When people eat chocolate, they are eating my flesh” (Food Empowerment Project). A survey overseen by the International Labor Organization in 2002 concluded that there were around 12,000 child laborers in Ivory Coast who had been trafficked, with some reports claiming even higher numbers (O'Keefe, 62). One farmer reflected, “‘The boys' treatment was unfair but I hired them because I needed the help. The low price for cocoa makes life difficult for everyone'’” (Whoriskey). From Hiedegger’s point of view, the farmer’s perspective here seems to reflect a sense that these boys are standing reserve, inputs that he has no choice but to use.

Cacao farmers in West Africa are living in a dystopia that can be seen as an extension of the arguments offered by Horkheimer, Adorno, and Hiedegger. They are dominated by distant powers, caught up in the global machine of mass chocolate production. I believe they illustrate the thesis I offered earlier: that domination begets further domination, and that systems that put humans in the position of being dominated also often have the effect of leading them to, sometimes requiring them to, dominate others and nature. Smallholder farmers are dominated by companies and governments through systemic poverty and exploitation of lack of options. The only means of living for these farmers is to themselves become tools and agents of domination, exploiting children for labor and the environment for resources. In Horkheimer and Adorno’s terms these farmers are the “superfluous remainder” dominated by the “masters of society,” led, in turn, to dominate nature and other people around them.

Heidegger’s concerns with enframing and standing-reserve give us a way of understanding the situation as well. One of the dangers of enframing that Heidegger noted is that things we exploit lose meaning to us. Recall Heidegger’s warning:

“man … comes to the brink of a very precipitous fall; that is, he comes to the point where he himself will have to be taken as the standing-reserve” (Heidegger, 27)

This vicious production system has made cacao farmers themselves become the standing-reserve, and they come to treat their own land and other people as standing-reserve as well. If Heidegger were to see the current state of the cacao industry, he might say we have already begun the precipitous fall.

• Cocoa Barometer 2020; Source: Cocoa Barometer,  https://www.voicenetwork.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-Cocoa-Barometer.pdf  
• Bittersweet: chocolate's impact on the environment, Source: World Wildlife Fund,  https://www.worldwildlife.org/magazine/issues/spring-2017/articles/bittersweet-chocolate-s-impact-on-the-environment 
• U.S. report: Much of the world’s chocolate supply relies on more than 1 million child workers; Source: The Washington Post,  https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/10/19/million-child-laborers-chocolate-supply/ 
• Assessing Progress in Reducing Child Labor in Cocoa Growing Areas of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana; Source: NORC,  https://www.norc.org/Research/Projects/Pages/assessing-progress-in-reducing-child-labor-in-cocoa-growing-areas-of-côte-d’ivoire-and-ghana.aspx 
• Chocolate documentary (Why would I pay that much for a chocolate bar?),  https://vimeo.com/266438670/1745ae3597 

Text

 

Adorno, T. W., & Horkheimer, M. (1972). Dialectic of Enlightenment. (J. Cumming, Trans.). Herder and Herder. 

Daoui, A. (2018, November 13). Cocoa production in Ivory Coast and the challenge of sustainability. Ways to Cap. https://www.waystocap.com/blog/cocoa-production-in-ivory-coast-and-the-challenge-of-sustainability/. 

Child Labor and Slavery in the Chocolate Industry. Food Empowerment Project. (2020). https://foodispower.org/human-labor-slavery/slavery-chocolate/.

Fountain, Antonie C. and Hütz-Adams, Friedel (2020): 2020 Cocoa Barometer

Gonzalez, J., & Amy Goodman. (2008, February 14). "Chocolate's Bittersweet Economy": Cocoa Industry Accused of Greed, Neglect for Labor Practices in Ivory Coast. Democracy Now. 28.

Heidegger, M. (1977). The Question Concerning Technology, and Other Essays. (W. Lovitt, Trans.). Harper Colophon. 

The cocoa LID is a moral hazard and a wasted opportunity. IHS Markit. (2020, September 2). https://ihsmarkit.com/research-analysis/the-cocoa-lid-is-a-moral-hazard-and-a-wasted-opportunity.html. 

Manley, G. A. (2020, January 9). Ivory Coast's cocoa sector is vital, and is set to get greener. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/cocoa-industry-ivory-coast-agriculture-deforestation/. 

O'Keefe, B. (2016, March 1). Bitter Sweets. Fortune. https://fortune.com/longform/big-chocolate-child-labor/. 

Whoriskey, P. (2020, October 19). Much of the world's chocolate supply relies on more than 1 million child workers. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/10/19/million-child-laborers-chocolate-supply/. 

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