The conflict between economic interests and a regard for the dignity of human has been an ongoing issue dating back to the 1900’s. Although Portugal had abolished slavery in all its colonies, the need for plantation workers prevailed. William Cadbury, a journalist who observed the conditions of suspected slavery in Portugal, said, “The Portuguese law, of course, does not permit slavery, but this was one of many instances I found on the mainland in which labour employed was not voluntary.”[1] People were being traded and forced into slavery, so others could get out of debt or purchase something they otherwise couldn’t afford. “A man might trade his sister’s children to pay off a debt or to slake the thirst for rum.”[2] Most slaves that came about from this situation were shipped to islands of São Tomé and Príncipe where they would be forced to spend the rest of their lives on cocoa plantations. Not only were they ripped away from their homes, but the conditions they were forced to live in were horrible. People were “taken away from their homes and transported across the sea to work on unhealthy islands, from which they never return.”[3] This lack of empathy shows the disregard for the value of human life. English journalist, Nevison, said “The only motive for slavery is money-making, and the only argument in its favor is that it pays,”[4] further proving the only thing slave owners valued was money. The prosperity of islands was based on the production of cocoa beans, and more slaves meant more cocoa beans, which meant more money. Journalists, such as Cadbury and Edward Ross, took measures to expose the industrial slavery that was taking place. Original reports from the 1900’s refused to refer to these individuals as slaves, denying the fact that what was happening was illegal and wrong. Ross found “abusive white settlers forcing Africans to work on plantations and build roads and government buildings for no pay.” [5] Cadbury found a prominent amount of slavery through his observations as well, however commission members and those in authority who read their reports refused to accept their findings as official evidence. This proved that industrialization was valued more than human life.
[1]Catherine Higgs, Chocolate Islands: Cocoa, Slavery, and Colonial Africa (Ohio University Press, 2012), 136.
[2] Lowell J. Satre, Chocolate on Trial (Ohio University Press, 2005), 3.
[3] Catherine Higgs, Chocolate Islands: Cocoa, Slavery, and Colonial Africa (Ohio University Press, 2012),137.
[4] Lowell J. Satre, Chocolate on Trial (Ohio University Press, 2005), 8.
[5] Catherine Higgs, Chocolate Islands: Cocoa, Slavery, and Colonial Africa (Ohio University Press, 2012),161.
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