Black Gold

This is my review of a documentary film called Black Gold. It will be more editorial in nature because this will not only include remarks about the film but also my personal opinions about the subject matter. The documentary itself was well filmed and produced thanks to funding from the UK national lottery. It is a strong piece that I would recommend to anyone as a means of understanding the world around them, or one aspect of it, a bit better.

When you buy a cup of coffee, do you think any further than the delicious flavor or satisfying your need of a caffeine fix? Do you think about where it came from? How many of us consider this question with things we consume daily?

Everything comes from somewhere and at the bottom of the production chain is usually where you find the real story...but its not usually a story that makes for comfortable viewing for people in the developed world. It is a story that is more convenient to put in the back of your mind as you take another hot sip from your cup.

A more important question, do enough people really care about where our modern conveniences come from? I think people care about all the issues raised in such documentaries as "Black Gold" but the way the world works seems to make them powerless. It seems that when a film forces you to examine the world and to see injustice, it it by those with a passion saying, "Look at this—this is wrong." Then, the viewers agree saying, "Yes, it must change, it is wrong." But the problem is so big and the forces supporting it is so powerful that any change seems impossible. How would a revolution start? How could people defeat such wealth and power? I don't know the answer to that, but enlightenment must surely be a key stepping stone in the process....people must know, must understand. Films like this one are stepping stones, that tell stories that must be heard...maybe while enjoying that cup of coffee.

If you could pause the world and hit the rewind button on your cup of coffee you would be taken back, via retailers and roasters, to coffee plantations. Some of that coffee might take you back to Ethiopia. Ethiopia is the largest producer of coffee in Africa. Over 15 million people depend on coffee for their very survival. Its a concept that is not so easy to imagine at first. In the Western world jobs come and go in a persons life. Whilst employed by a company we depend on that company for money but if it goes wrong, if we lose that job then we look for another.

The people in this documentary, however, have no such luxury. They depend on coffee....not to wake themselves up or get through the day with their morning meal, but to make sure they, and their families, have a meal at all.

I was struck at first by how green parts of Ethiopia are. This shows my geographical ignorance more than anything but the only times I have seen Ethiopia on the news it has been a barren place suffering from famine and with a desperate need for aid. I saw Ethiopia as a beautiful place and one that seemed fertile for growing crops, especially in the South. The main crop grown is black gold...not oil but the much prized coffee bean. The comparison with oil is not just convenient for the title...coffee is the second biggest trading comodity after oil. It is big business and therefore a lot of money is involved. Four multinationals control the market: Kraft, Nestle, Sara Lee and Procter and Gamble. They are the key players in an 80 billion dollar a year market. Like I said...a lot of money.

The film followed a man, Tadesse Meskela, who manages the Oromia Coffee Farmers Co-Operative Union representing 74,000 Ethiopian coffee farmers. He struggles to get money for his farmers as the price the Western world is prepared to pay for the coffee has hit a 30 year low. This comes on the back of a colapse in the global trade agreement. Times are hard for his farmers as they struggle to make the money they need to survive, let alone prosper....despite them supplying a product that people will pay good money for. The bottom of the chain though doesn't see a drop in comparison to people higher up....it is incredulous that this is how the system works.

The coffee pickers in the factories in Addis Ababa make just half a dollar a day. Their product eventually sells in shops for 3 dollars or more for just one cup. The low prices being paid to the farmers lead many to start growing chat (a narcotic) in its place. They do not want to grow it....but they need money. They would grow anything to be able to provide for their families. This felt like another tragedy as the west, who would condemn the growing of drugs are, by their greed to not pay proper money for coffee, forcing the farmers into an action that no one wants them to take.

I think the film depicts a western world who simply does not realize this. There are interviews with workers from Starbucks who are happily reporting that their brand is getting bigger and bigger. There are coffee "artists" winning awards for their drink...and people just drinking cup after cup of coffee...2 billion cups drunk in the world per day. These people are not insensitive. I think they are just numbed by an ideology in which comercialism tells them how to live. As Tadesse says in the film, "People in the west just need to think about what they are drinking."

Other subjects in the film included the theraputic feeding centres, where malnourished people are forced to go because they cannot afford food; and a meeting of a community where citizens try and work out where they will find the money for a new school. During this meeting, one man offers to sell his shirt. People here might say "I would sell the shirt off my back....". This farmer meant it...he would sell anything he owned to help the community. We cannot imagine this but it is a reality. We must not only imagine it but recognize it and see it for what it is, a man made tragedy. It needs no complex metaphors and overblown conclusions...it is just wrong.

If the West leads the world...then this film suggests that we are bad leaders...we give a bad example to developing countries on how to treat those worse off than you. Our leaders in governments and corporations pull the wool over our eyes on a daily basis. Advertising encourages us to think only of ourselves and our own pleasures. Corporations do not seek a better world, only a better bottom line. This film and others like it should serve as a call to arms for ordinary people to want change for others more than for themselves.

Seven million Ethiopians depend on aid every year and one line stuck with me after the film. A man was standing at the distribution center for aid and he was clearly unhappy. When asked what he felt about the aid he said, "My children are learning something negative from this. They learn begging. So no, I am not happy to see the aid."

When I reveiew this film I am also reviewing others such as The 11th Hour and The End of the Line....all of which have important messages that we must act on. We should make a start and hope that future generations find a better way.

Grace rating

10/10

Text: Mark

Much needed editing: Katy :)