Blood Roses and Deadly Diamonds

Not to be the grammar police or anything, but could you at least do the folks the honor of spelling their COUNTRY right?

Those poor minors are some of the toughest people on the planet i bet.
They work harder in a day then your average North american works in a year. Yet we make more in a minute then they do in 8 hours.? Something is seriously wrong with the world we live in.

Is there somewhere I can view full credits for these episodes? Specifically I'm trying to find the music that begins playing at 19:05 (yeah yeah, that old chestnut)

It is sad to realize where the roses we buy/receive on valentines day come from. The workers to produce these roses are very uneducated and probably does not understand the side effects of the chemicals in roses. The industry 'forces' these uneducated people to work under such conditions because they do not have a choice. I believe that the working conditions in order to produce roses can be improved. However, the industry would experience a difficult path as they invest money into having a higher quality of life for these workers. A side effect of these innovations may cause the company's to higher less workers due to a higher amount of revenue being produced. This will cause a higher employment in these developing countries.

On the other hand, the way diamonds are extracted/ mined does not seem like a problem to me. Although these people are living under harsh conditions, the diamond producers are keeping them employed and alive. Without the corporations, these people would be dead (wihout food, water or money).

It is absurdly tragic to realize that the traditional Western symbols of St. Valentine's Day, roses and diamonds, have brought such cruel exploitations and unthinkable hardships upon workers in undeveloped/developing countries elsewhere. In the culture that many Canadians are brought up in, it is almost a luxury to receive fresh red roses that symbolize romance on Valentine's Day; however, it is truly heart wrenching to see countless Colombian workers working so hard for little money to provide such luxury for us on Valentine's Day. Upon watching the video, I question the workers' knowledge in rose farming, is it really ethical for Colombian employers to be hiring untrained workers to work with these dangerous chemical-infested roses? Most workers probably are not even aware of the harmful effects that can be caused by the chemicals in the roses, were they a little more educated on such matter, would they still be working at rose farms/factories on the little amount of money that they were given? It seems to me that the only solution to this problem is for the Colombian government to enforce non-profit organizations to educate the workers before they actually apply for the job, as it is their own government's duty to protect their own people from industrial exploitation. At this point, I am very glad that Current has exposed this issue to public and I hope that this problem would be soon resolved, so that I would not need to think about how my valentine roses came about in the future.

I was just wondering, dont we already have a more modern way of getting rid of pesticides and its proven effective?
Secondly, private corporations should try to invest into the diamond fields in Sierra Leone so that they can provide higher paying jobs to the people and improve the economy. Also, private corporations could find diamonds much more easily with new tools and methods.

I think what the people in Sierra Leone needs is education. If you give them food, water, and money for their resources, they will get strong and start a war again. Instead, proper education will let their people know that fighting isn't the solution to everything. This isn't something for foreign governments to intervene as they respond too slowly, but something for international organizations and corporations to help. Companies who buy these resources should be directly involved in extracting the resources to help the workers by paying them more and giving them a better life.

Sierra Leone was once a torn country becuase of its civil wars. I have always been wondering. How come those African countries are willing to stay poor like that even though they have precious resources desired by many countries (USA). They rather make their lives even worse by trading their diamonds or oil with weapons and fight between themselves. Think about this. What would have happened if those weapons possessed by the warlords were instead food supplies, technology, or even educations obtained from trade? Think about the value of oil or diamonds compared to those basic supplies, the country would have fed its citizens easily. Once the mass poverty issues were eliminated, the country could go back and develop much better mining industries and perhaps they could become totally different countries like today. All the wealth and power or sometimes even knowledge were in the hands of the wrong people. They did not use those powers well or in the right ways.

is this love...not sure about this one

Great video!

The US Labor Education in the Americas Project (USLEAP) has been working on the ground in Colombia with flower workers and their unions for years now. There are more than 100,000 flower workers in Colombia who cultivate, cut, and package flowers for the US everyday. The majority of the these workers are not only exposed daily to pesticides as the video indicates, but are forced to work up to 12 hours or more a day during times of high demand (i.e. Valentine's Day and Mother's Day); most are paid only minimum wage which is roughly $230 per month; thousands of subcontracted workers are exploited continuously because they legally do not have the same rights as direct plant workers when it comes to schedules, pay, and health care benefits; there is constant company repression for workers who try to collectively organize; and for the many that are often ill due to pesticides and being overworked, companies offer little or no medical attention and benefits.

ASOCOLFLORES is also part of the problem! This association is strongly and effectively marketing these flowers as "socially-responsible" when in fact workers and their unions continue to denounce the plantations these flowers come from where worker rights' violations continue to be an issue.

This is an ongoing problem! Please think about these workers when you're buying flowers and find out what you can do and how to stay involved.

Lupita Aguila, Program Coordinator for USLEAP

http://usleap.org/usleap-campaigns/flower-workers-and-economic-justice

http://laborrightsblog.typepad.com/international_labor_right/2009/02/colombia-in...

http://laborrightsblog.typepad.com/international_labor_right/2009/02/the-day-of-...

Excellent Vanguard piece, as usual.
It's too bad that those who don't care to know far outweigh those who do. They go about their days buying roses and necklaces with no thought to how they became available. It is that majority that keeps these businesses operating with such primitive, oppressive and harmful standards.
The message to workers from bosses, "The less you know, the better for me", comes through loud and clear as part of a much larger problem within governments worldwide.
In order for change to have lasting value, people must be educated to understand the positive differences it can make in their lives.

The woman that is paralyzed has no proof that her paralysis was caused by working at the flower farm. Hemiplegia is usually caused by a stroke, and is sometimes caused by a disease that affects the spinal cord. If she had a stroke or contracted a disease, then how could the flower company be at fault?

There is also no evidence that any company was requiring women to have their fallopian tubes tied. If the company ever required a medical procedure to be performed as a prerequisite for employment, then there should be some sort of paper trail to verify the claim. Since no evidence is presented in the video for the verification of the claim, I assume that no evidence was found, or the journalists didn't bother to look.

The woman being interviewed at the farm claims that she makes $7.00 to $7.50 an hour. The minimum wage in the US is currently $7.25, and due to US agricultural labor laws, farms do not need to pay their workers overtime. These workers are being paid just as much as they would in the US, but their cost of living in Columbia is much lower than it would be in the US, so why all the fuss over worker's rights?

Pesticides and herbicides are bad for people, but as of right now, there is no way to grow flowers for a profit without chemicals. The company is experimenting with new ways to grow flowers without chemicals, and the workers in the video were all wearing proper personal protective equipment, so the company obviously cares about their workers, and they are working to better their lives.

This pod makes me question whether Vanguard really is journalism, or whether it is just sensationalized infotainment.

Great journalism and shocking stuff. Especially found the diamond trade difficult to fathom, 30 cents and 2 cups of rice for that work? It's just ruthless exploitation.

I've talked to a few jewelers, and even though you can get a certified conflict-free stone, they say you can NEVER really know for sure.

My solution? Go with faux. There are several different types of faux stones out there, and they are, of course, less expensive than the real thing- and sparklier to boot. I guess the real question is- how important is the financial value of a stone to you? Could you be just as happy sporting something that looks so much like the real thing that only a jeweler with an eyeglass in hand can tell the difference?

Think about it.

Maybe since we celebrate Valentines day with bloody diamonds and toxic flowers, it's a step up from being picked in a lottery to be someones year long lover (not by choice) or having the heart of a forlorn lover being sent to you in a box. Actually maybe it's about the same. In general capitalism kills.

Very mind opening. I think people know where and what blood diamonds are for the most part, but the roses is something kind of surprising. This was a good piece that doesn't just bring up the topic, but it covers almost every angle there is about the industry. The thing I find extremely interesting is how the diamond miners and the flower workers have no idea of how much money the product their handling is worth. I wish they did. Unfortunatly that is information that probably is talked about much. In order to better their economic standings then we are going to have to educate the masses. Which empowers them to make changes.

I wish I could save this pod or something; I am so thankful that you made it!

fantastic
great journalism
few people know this market of the symbols of love

Great work. Congratulation!

Roses, diamons, bananas...and the list keeps growing.
Only educated consumers can change markets: Yes! you can find responsibly produced colombian, ecuadorian & kenyan flowers in the US and Europenan markets...

Stop purchasing the flowers coming from developing economies will deeply hurt employment, public expenditure... But paying an environmental and social surplus is what will make the difference.

You can do something! Look for responsible produced diamons, flowers, bananas, coffee...

J.

They have the technology to make diamonds in factories now

interesting and informative... i agree with one of the posts above, even conflict diamonds seem senseless. what other opportunities are there though for worker in SL?

fantastically produced videos.

GREAT INFORMATIVE SPECIAL
I WAS NEVER INTO VALENTINES DAY ANYWAYS
MAYBE THATS WHY I NEVER HAD LONG RELATIONSHIPS LOL
BUT YEAH IM NOT A FAN OF COPPING ROSES OR DIAMONDS AND WATCHIN THIS KEEPS ME AWAY AGAIN
THANKS CURRENT AND TO ALL WHO MADE THIS SEGMENT..

Another awesome Vanguard piece! Fantastic pod.

I knew about the blood diamond trade prior to viewing this, but really knew nothing of the blood roses trade.

Very informative and straightforward.

Great journalism. WRT to the blood diamonds, Current should investigate Viktor Bout, a Russian national who has been supplying the weapons for waring nations for nearly two decades. Check out "Merchant of Death" by Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun for Bout's history and connection w/ countries in Africa.

I really enjoyed your investigation about the flower industry, especially cause I live in Colombia l(bogota). Everything was very good, just one thing I didn´t like was your spiel about the taxis...taxis in Bogota, are just as safe, probably safer than most cities in Latin America...the industry is very weill regulated, they all have a taximeter and they are very cheap! I´m not a taxi driver or anything, but just thought there´s no need to "scare" people with negative stereotypes. (all this stuff about colombia being ´so´dangerous)

Wow. This is a great inspiration to do great work. This is one of the best Pods I have seen. By far! What I liked about this pod is that it gave showed the effort, blood, sweat, and tears given to produce something so materialistic such as diamonds and Roses. The movement of this Pod was great. (Considering it was shot in Africa and Colombia) This is just a great pod.

Great piece.

If you want to go back to Colombia-- how about taking a look at the violence against union members in that country. Many U.S. companies are implicated and the free trade agreement was just shelved because of outcry from union supporters.

Great piece. I've be interested to see a follow up piece about the flower industry and its growing practices in East Africa, specifically Ethiopia. You could tie it in with an investigation into coffee growing as well, there was a huge controversy involving starbucks that occurred a few years ago.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6086330.stm

Also, VBS TV did a special on the Colombian Devil's Breath. Scariest Plant Ever.

great pod! We can't remain ignorant about what we buy...

"Ignorance, the root and the stem of every evil." - Plato

god great job... this is the law of this world, some people born with star and some people born Crashed, is hard but is true

So...I think I may be sticking to chocolates for a while.

does anyone know why this wont load properly?