an individual gaze
Can we ask for a local and specific answer for a systemic issue?
On one side of the production chain there are the producers, on the other the consumers. Perhaps at first glance, the chain is seen or perceived in this way: someone is cultivating, someone is buying, and an artisan in between is making the chocolate.
This raises the question: how can we deal with systemic issues from an individual gaze?
As a designer, or simply as an individual who tries to understand and apprehend certain forms of systems that participate in the organisation of the world, a reframing of the issue is necessary to understand it. To have the possibility to grasp it could reduce it to problems, and not questions. And the problems could be solved, if we look at this part of the whole equation.
The broader system is stuck in models that underlie the whole society. There is a tendency to see a binarity in the distribution of resources, with producers who work and are exploited in the sense that they do not receive the value of their labour. On the other hand, the consumers who benefit from the producer's work, but who in a way do not exploit its value either. We know that this surplus value does not just disappear. Nevertheless, although the problem cannot be solved on an individual basis, we can look at ways of thinking about it. The following points will help this process:
— Raising awareness about the position of institutions, lobbies, industries in this economy. This is perhaps what I'm trying to do in this catalogue, by re-adjusting the glance so that it no longer highlights individuals but a systemic paradox.
— Developing a parallel, more circular or local economy. Because by remaining in capitalist schemes in this chain that involves all the actors and puts the exploiter and the exploited in relation to each other, the worker can hardly get out of it.
— Demanding action from legal persons (governments, institutions, law and regulation makers). In terms of power relations they are the most likely to have an impact in the chain.
— Or, as individual entities: producers and consumers join forces. Consumers boycott products that exploit producers, and question the limits of the system they support by consuming.
On one side of the production chain there are the producers, on the other the consumers. Perhaps at first glance, the chain is seen or perceived in this way: someone is cultivating, someone is buying, and an artisan in between is making the chocolate.
“That allows everyone along the chocolate chain to pass blame and responsibility for the boy slaves to someone else. Farmers who use slaves blame the people responsible for the price of cocoa. Middlemen who deal with farmers say they don't see any slavery. Ivory Coast government officials who enforce slavery laws say it's foreigners who are selling and using slaves in their country. Cocoa suppliers say they can't be responsible because they don't control the farms. Chocolate companies say they rely on their suppliers to provide cocoa untainted by slave labor. The trade associations blame Ivory Coast's unstable political situation. And consumers don't have an inkling that their favorite chocolate treats may be tainted by slave labor.” (LINK)
This raises the question: how can we deal with systemic issues from an individual gaze?
As a designer, or simply as an individual who tries to understand and apprehend certain forms of systems that participate in the organisation of the world, a reframing of the issue is necessary to understand it. To have the possibility to grasp it could reduce it to problems, and not questions. And the problems could be solved, if we look at this part of the whole equation.
The broader system is stuck in models that underlie the whole society. There is a tendency to see a binarity in the distribution of resources, with producers who work and are exploited in the sense that they do not receive the value of their labour. On the other hand, the consumers who benefit from the producer's work, but who in a way do not exploit its value either. We know that this surplus value does not just disappear. Nevertheless, although the problem cannot be solved on an individual basis, we can look at ways of thinking about it. The following points will help this process:
— Raising awareness about the position of institutions, lobbies, industries in this economy. This is perhaps what I'm trying to do in this catalogue, by re-adjusting the glance so that it no longer highlights individuals but a systemic paradox.
— Developing a parallel, more circular or local economy. Because by remaining in capitalist schemes in this chain that involves all the actors and puts the exploiter and the exploited in relation to each other, the worker can hardly get out of it.
— Demanding action from legal persons (governments, institutions, law and regulation makers). In terms of power relations they are the most likely to have an impact in the chain.
— Or, as individual entities: producers and consumers join forces. Consumers boycott products that exploit producers, and question the limits of the system they support by consuming.