A New Slavery?
Angela V. John looks at the uncomfortably long and close links between slavery and the cocoa trade.
Off the West African coast is a slave ship laden with human cargo. Its occupants are bound for cocoa plantations far away where they will spend the rest of their lives toiling to supply the world’s demand for cocoa beans. Meanwhile in Britain, a centre of chocolate manufacturing and consumption, many are shocked to hear that slavery, supposedly illegal and consigned to history, persists. Anti-Slavery campaigners urge boycotts. Cadburys and other chocolate firms seek to reconcile their humanitarian reputation with their business interests and pressure is put on the government to intervene. There are investigations, deputations, reports and a court case. The press plays a key role in publicising the situation, revealing European connections and a complicated network of traffickers seeking to exculpate themselves from blame. It is 1906.
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