Benetton: Difference between revisions
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The British capitalists who funded and armed the invasion then bought up vast swathes of stolen land for expansive sheep and cattle ranches as well as wheat monoculture. The theft of Patagonia catapulted Argentina into global economic significance, and cattle ranching on this stolen land made it the world's #1 source of beef until ~1920.<ref>https://www.sourcedjourneys.com/post/argentine-wheat-hides-a-history-of-native-genocide</ref> | The British capitalists who funded and armed the invasion then bought up vast swathes of stolen land for expansive sheep and cattle ranches as well as wheat monoculture. The theft of Patagonia catapulted Argentina into global economic significance, and cattle ranching on this stolen land made it the world's #1 source of beef until ~1920.<ref>https://www.sourcedjourneys.com/post/argentine-wheat-hides-a-history-of-native-genocide</ref> | ||
This wave of privatization in the 1880s has been compared to that of the 1990s<ref>https://newint.org/columns/essays/2006/08/01/patagonia/</ref>, with Benetton leading all other corporate interests in buying 2.2 million acres to become the largest private landowner of Argentina.<ref>https://www.coha.org/benetton-in-patagonia-the-oppression-of-mapuche-in-the-argentine-south/</ref> Benetton uses the land for livestock, farming, prospecting, fossil fuel extraction, and logging. | This wave of privatization in the 1880s has been compared to that of the 1990s<ref>https://newint.org/columns/essays/2006/08/01/patagonia/</ref>, with Benetton leading all other corporate interests in buying 2.2 million acres to become the largest private landowner of Argentina.<ref>https://www.coha.org/benetton-in-patagonia-the-oppression-of-mapuche-in-the-argentine-south/</ref> Benetton uses the land for livestock, farming, prospecting, fossil fuel extraction, and logging. Today, Benetton is Argentina's largest wool producer and obtains 20 percent of its wool from sheep grazing on the land in Patagonia, where it raises 16,000 cows and 280,000 sheep. | ||
Benetton obtains 20 percent of its wool from sheep grazing on the land in Patagonia, where it raises 16,000 cows and 280,000 sheep | |||
For two decades, the Mapuche have staged occupations, protests and demonstrations to reclaim their ancestral homeland currently managed by Benetton. The Mapuche have been met with strong opposition from Benetton and violent federal police repression in defense of Benetton's corporate interests. | For two decades, the Mapuche have staged occupations, protests and demonstrations to reclaim their ancestral homeland currently managed by Benetton. The Mapuche have been met with strong opposition from Benetton and violent federal police repression in defense of Benetton's corporate interests. | ||
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<blockquote>"We don't want or need Benetton's donation," Rosa Chiquichano, a lawmaker in Patagonia's Chubut province and a descendant of the indigenous Mapuche and Tehuelche population, said in an interview from Esquel, Argentina. "We want a restitution of our land. We want reparation for the land that was taken away from us."<ref>https://unpo.org/article/3357</ref></blockquote> | <blockquote>"We don't want or need Benetton's donation," Rosa Chiquichano, a lawmaker in Patagonia's Chubut province and a descendant of the indigenous Mapuche and Tehuelche population, said in an interview from Esquel, Argentina. "We want a restitution of our land. We want reparation for the land that was taken away from us."<ref>https://unpo.org/article/3357</ref></blockquote> | ||
In 2016, [[Truthout]] published an interview with several Mapuche leaders: | In 2016, [[Truthout]] published an interview with several [[Mapuche Nation|Mapuche]] leaders: | ||
<blockquote>“The government and the companies fear this land recovery because it challenges the way things are,” Mirta Curruhuinca said. “People say to us, ‘You are on Benetton’s land,’ but we don’t see it that way. The Earth belongs to all of us. It is not an object that can be bought or sold.”</blockquote> | <blockquote>“The government and the companies fear this land recovery because it challenges the way things are,” Mirta Curruhuinca said. “People say to us, ‘You are on Benetton’s land,’ but we don’t see it that way. The Earth belongs to all of us. It is not an object that can be bought or sold.”</blockquote> | ||
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<blockquote>“We are not the owners of the Earth. We are part of it, so it is not possible for anyone to give out titles or put up fences on something they do not own. As part of the Earth, we are responsible for looking after her so that there is harmony and balance.”</blockquote> | <blockquote>“We are not the owners of the Earth. We are part of it, so it is not possible for anyone to give out titles or put up fences on something they do not own. As part of the Earth, we are responsible for looking after her so that there is harmony and balance.”</blockquote> | ||
Don Atilio, a community | Don Atilio, a community elder, said the [[Mapuche Nation|Mapuche]] will continue to resist: <blockquote>Here we are, resisting and here we will stay because it is impossible now not to think of standing up and resisting. The only thing that has managed to put a stop to multinational corporations is popular mobilization. It is the only thing that can save us. We do not accept the mandate of European capitalism, the Argentinean judicial system or police violence. We will be here, loyal to the land of our ancestors and the wind that has spoken to us for centuries.<ref>https://truthout.org/articles/argentina-s-mapuche-community-stands-up-to-benetton-in-struggle-for-ancestral-lands/</ref></blockquote> | ||
== Greenwashing == | == Greenwashing == | ||
Latest revision as of 04:13, 27 February 2023
Patagonia
In the 1990s and 2000s, the Argentinian State sold millions of hectares of land across Patagonia in one of world's greatest privatizations of the time. These sales were fiercely opposed by human rights defenders as this land was obtained by the State through the genocidal invasion of Patagonia in the 1880s, during which it massacred thousands of people of the Mapuche Nation and forcibly removed them from their land via lethal concentration camps. This invasion was instigated by cattle and sheep ranchers, and the general (later President of Argentina) who sought to exterminate the Mapuche was also a cattle rancher.[1]
The British capitalists who funded and armed the invasion then bought up vast swathes of stolen land for expansive sheep and cattle ranches as well as wheat monoculture. The theft of Patagonia catapulted Argentina into global economic significance, and cattle ranching on this stolen land made it the world's #1 source of beef until ~1920.[2]
This wave of privatization in the 1880s has been compared to that of the 1990s[3], with Benetton leading all other corporate interests in buying 2.2 million acres to become the largest private landowner of Argentina.[4] Benetton uses the land for livestock, farming, prospecting, fossil fuel extraction, and logging. Today, Benetton is Argentina's largest wool producer and obtains 20 percent of its wool from sheep grazing on the land in Patagonia, where it raises 16,000 cows and 280,000 sheep.
For two decades, the Mapuche have staged occupations, protests and demonstrations to reclaim their ancestral homeland currently managed by Benetton. The Mapuche have been met with strong opposition from Benetton and violent federal police repression in defense of Benetton's corporate interests.
"We don't want or need Benetton's donation," Rosa Chiquichano, a lawmaker in Patagonia's Chubut province and a descendant of the indigenous Mapuche and Tehuelche population, said in an interview from Esquel, Argentina. "We want a restitution of our land. We want reparation for the land that was taken away from us."[5]
In 2016, Truthout published an interview with several Mapuche leaders:
“The government and the companies fear this land recovery because it challenges the way things are,” Mirta Curruhuinca said. “People say to us, ‘You are on Benetton’s land,’ but we don’t see it that way. The Earth belongs to all of us. It is not an object that can be bought or sold.”
Rosa Currinanko, whose community, Santa Rosa Leleque, successfully recovered 620 hectares of land after enduring nearly a decade of violence from Benetton, said:
“We are not the owners of the Earth. We are part of it, so it is not possible for anyone to give out titles or put up fences on something they do not own. As part of the Earth, we are responsible for looking after her so that there is harmony and balance.”
Don Atilio, a community elder, said the Mapuche will continue to resist:
Here we are, resisting and here we will stay because it is impossible now not to think of standing up and resisting. The only thing that has managed to put a stop to multinational corporations is popular mobilization. It is the only thing that can save us. We do not accept the mandate of European capitalism, the Argentinean judicial system or police violence. We will be here, loyal to the land of our ancestors and the wind that has spoken to us for centuries.[6]
Greenwashing
In recent years Benetton has established a partnership with Woolmark to market an 'eco-friendly' brand image[7][8][9].
Woolmark's parent organization AWI is a part of the Macdoch Foundation's Farming for the Future initiative[10], a regenerative agriculture program founded by former NewsCorp executive and son-in-law of Rupert Murdoch, Alasdair MacLeod.
Sources
- ↑ https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1101&context=gsp
- ↑ https://www.sourcedjourneys.com/post/argentine-wheat-hides-a-history-of-native-genocide
- ↑ https://newint.org/columns/essays/2006/08/01/patagonia/
- ↑ https://www.coha.org/benetton-in-patagonia-the-oppression-of-mapuche-in-the-argentine-south/
- ↑ https://unpo.org/article/3357
- ↑ https://truthout.org/articles/argentina-s-mapuche-community-stands-up-to-benetton-in-struggle-for-ancestral-lands/
- ↑ https://globalfashionagenda.org/news-article/the-circular-fashion-partnership-in-practice-benetton-group/
- ↑ https://www.woolmark.com/fashion/united-colors-of-benettons-never-ending-wool/
- ↑ https://www.woolmark.com/industry/newsroom/wpc-benettons-never-ending-wool/
- ↑ https://www.wool.com/globalassets/wool/about-awi/media-resources/publications/beyond-the-bale/beyond-the-bale---dec-2022.pdf