With the Do the Right Thing Tour just three days away, the news starts flying fast and furious in the Campaign for Fair Food!
Read the Boston Press Release here…
Orlando Publix protest (above, right) keeps the heat on the Florida grocery giant…
Huffington Post piece invites the world to join us for the Tampa march on Publix…
CIW members in Immokalee are making final preparations for their Friday morning departure and the long ride up I-95 to Boston, first stop on the Do the Right Thing Tour.
To get a feel for the march through downtown Boston planned for this Sunday, you can read the Boston Press Release here. Here’s a quick excerpt:
| “We pick Boston’s tomatoes, and for years those tomatoes have been harvested in Florida’s fields under unimaginably harsh conditions,” said Leonel Perez of the CIW. “Today, however, we are finally beginning to see the first glimmers of more humane treatment at work, thanks to the Campaign for Fair Food. But Boston’s Stop & Shop supermarket chain, and its parent company Ahold, are standing in the way of progress, and their refusal to help improve farm labor wages and working conditions threatens to undermine the unprecedented – and still fragile – human rights advances that are just now starting to take root in the fields.” read more |
Of course, despite a to-do list that could stretch from Immokalee to Boston, CIW members are never too busy to join Fair Food allies in a protest calling on Publix to help protect and advance human rights in Florida’s tomato fields. This past Sunday in Orlando, farmworkers and allies turned out in force for the last of the Month of Protests leading up to the big Tour. Here are a few pics from the action:
 As usual, workers from Immokalee and their families did their part — some more than their part! — to get the word out… |
 … and make their voices heard on the crowded street that ran alongside the Orlando Publix. |
 But they were hardly alone, with Orlando area allies standing shoulder to shoulder… |
 … with CIW members in the battle for Fair Food. Next stop: Boston! |
Finally, one of the internet’s hottest sites, the Huffington Post, ran a piece yesterday by Sarasota-based chef (and commentator on the social and historical issues behind the food we eat) Lael Hazan. The piece, entitled “Who Picks Your Tomatoes,” was inspired by a recent visit to the CIW’s Modern-Day Slavery Museum, and by the author’s own efforts to answer the question, “So… what do I do and how do I teach my children,” about the exploitation of the people whose back-breaking labor puts food on our tables. It’s a great read, so to inspire you to read the whole thing, here’s how it wraps up:
| “So… what do I do and how do I teach my children? First, rather than stage a boycott, I can ask the management every time I go in the shop “have they heard about the Agreement, if so, will they sign it”? I can do this by myself, but I can also bring my children. A boycott only works if the stores know or care that you are boycotting. I can work with my children and their friends, to do this at every store we frequent and also at places that purchase large quantities of tomatoes. We can create a letter-writing campaign. I’m blogging about it and on Feb. 2nd. I hosted a radio show about the subject on WSLR. Lastly, we will be at the March 5th Do the Right Thing March in Tampa! Will you join us?
It is my belief that people want to do “good” in the world. Fear and bureaucracy keeps us in chains. I want to teach my children that they do not have to be afraid, rather that their young voices can resonate. For after all….
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That’s the very latest from the front in the Campaign for Fair Food. Come back soon for more, as the countdown to the Do the Right Thing Tour is now three days and counting!