The Red Alert, Volume 01, Number 04, Friday 17 May 2024
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Volume 01, Number 04, Friday 17 May 2024 |
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Nestlé's infant food hypocrisy - added sugars and deceptive practices exposed |
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Editorial
While focusing on securing a decisive victory for the ANC on the forthcoming 29 May 2024 elections in defence of the hard-won labour rights and achievements, such as the national minimum wage and legislative provisions against unfair labour practices, the working class needs to unite and confront the exploitative capitalist class on all fronts of the class struggle. The immediate objectives of this struggle should include confronting unscrupulous global north-based multinational corporations, such as Nestlé.
The research report "How Nestlé gets children hooked on sugar in lower-income countries" published by the Swiss non-governmental organisation Public Eye last month, brings our attention to Nestlé's glaring double standards in product composition, particularly concerning the inclusion of added sugars in food. Through its double standards, Nestlé disregards the imperative to end inequalities in food security and related health standards. While Nestlé supplies affluent European countries with sugar-free infant products, it imposes a sugar-laden burden on vulnerable populations in lower- and middle-income countries of the Global South - South Africa included.
By so doing, Nestlé is perpetuating health disparities. It is also building addiction to sugar to forge a market for sugar products at later stages of growth and exacerbates the risk of chronic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes among infants, young children and adults at the later stage of growth. The practice exposes one contradictory aspect of corporate-driven modern practices of neo-colonialism, which we can see include health exploitation of the Global South victims as a strategy to maximise profits while attacking their life expectancy through harmful practices. We condemn this in the strongest terms possible and call for a formal investigation to hold Nestlé accountable.
The health and ethical implications of Nestlé's actions have far-reaching implications. Not only does Nestlé compromise public health in the Global South, but also undermines the principles of fairness and justice. Its conduct involves differential treatment based on global geographic location, unfair distribution of wealth, perpetuating inequalities between the Global North and South and disregarding the wellbeing of people in the Global South. This exposes the unacceptable pattern of Global North-capitalist irresponsibility.
Transparency emerges as another critical issue. Besides the hypocrisy of adding sugar to infant food in the historically disadvantaged Global South when it is dangerous for health while protecting the health of Global North infants by not adding sugar to their food, Nestlé's reported failure to disclose added sugars in its products adequately is a betrayal of consumer trust. By obscuring crucial nutritional information, Nestlé deprives consumers of the ability to make informed choices about what they feed their children. The Communist Party should, as part of our food security campaign, champion improved labelling that enables public education on nutrition.
The resistance encountered by independent investigators attempting to scrutinise Nestlé's practices further underlines the Global North multinational corporation's lack of transparency and accountability. Industry influence on scientific scrutiny raises serious concerns about the integrity of Nestlé's operations and its commitment to public health, especially in the Global South. This reflects capital's focus on profit maximisation at the expense of the wellbeing of consumers. It requires a capable democratic developmental state to be much tighter on policy and oversight of products that impact on public health. This is the direction the government in South Africa should take forward.
Nestlé's marketing strategies, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, must be condemned not only as exploitative but also as endangering infant health, growth and longevity. By aggressively promoting products without adequately disclosing their sugar content, Nestlé preys upon vulnerable consumers, including parents seeking the best for their children. Endorsements from some health professionals only amplify the deception, betraying a disregard for ethical marketing practices and the wellbeing of consumers.
The regulatory weaknesses that allow health exploiters, such as Nestlé, to continue their harmful practices with impunity must be rolled back. This calls for strong health regulations, including national sugar standards and their enforcement above all else, to protect life. It is a key policy imperative which the working class, with the SACP playing its vanguard role, should ensure that the government focuses on – to tackle the burden of sugar-driven disease and build a favourable environment for the National Health Insurance, including primary healthcare, to succeed.
Tackling the causes of health problems, in this case the unnecessarily added dangerous sugars in infant, children and other food, will help make available and thus redirect resources to other healthcare or human development imperatives. This will also contribute to strengthen preventative healthcare to address the crises of costly curative healthcare and resource problems in national and family health spending. As the ANC-led government prepares to roll out the NHI over the coming years following President Cyril Ramaphosa's signing of the NHI Bill into law on Wednesday, 15 May 2024, we should ensure that new strategies strengthen preventative healthcare to lessen the burden of curative health on the health sector and health resources.
Despite World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines recommending against the inclusion of added sugars in infant foods, weak regulatory oversight in many Global South countries permits Nestlé to market sugar-laden products with impunity. This highlights the urgent need for stronger regulations, related enforcement mechanisms, institutional capacity and community mobilisation. The working class, with the SACP developing its vanguard leadership and all Alliance partners actively involved, should take forward this struggle to hold the capitalists, such as Nestlé, accountable for their actions.
In light of these revelations, there is a clear call for action. Together, we must take forward the mobilisation to ensure that Nestlé immediately adheres to WHO guidelines. Nestlé must cease the inclusion of added sugars in infant cereals and formulas in South Africa and in the Global South. Responsibility and ethical practices must take precedence over profits, ensuring the health and wellbeing of children everywhere, not only in the Global North. Only through concerted efforts to uphold transparency, accountability and equitable health standards can we safeguard the future of our most vulnerable consumers. If the push comes to shove – that is, if Nestlé persists with its unscrupulous practices – we must consider consumer boycott following a democratic consultative process.
Tackling practices that are a danger to life, such as Nestlé's conduct in the Global South, through working-class mobilisation, requires a multi-pronged strategy and deep going, sustained working-class campaigning. This should include a focus on reproductive rights, promoting breastfeeding, ensuring that all workplaces have facilities for breastfeeding mothers and deepening the struggle for gender equality. Driving a national food security campaign as part of this mobilisation is also essential. In this sense, food security must correctly be seen as at least including the availability of sufficient food, the right food nutrition and food health and safety.
- Editorial
Enduring legacy of Victory Day: Brief reflection on the Soviet Union's contribution
By Solly Mapaila
The world balance of forces has shifted significantly in the past three decades. Despite still powerful, depending on what you measure, the United States is facing a decline in its hegemony. The US-led imperialist-collective west, which thought it commanded totalitarian control of all global regions, is reacting to the change in the world balance of forces by heightening their imperialist offensive on various fronts. They have been expanding their military-politico-economic organisation, NATO, aiming immediately at Russia, provoking the war in Ukraine. The chief target of this expansionism is China, which has advanced and is now the world's second largest national economy. The US-led imperialist offensive still targets Cuba, Venezuela and has added international initiatives such as the expanding BRICS Plus in its targets. In the process, the imperialist west is engaging in strategies to manufacture a misleading version of history, including on the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
Thursday, 9 May 2024 (Russian Time) marked the seventy-ninth anniversary of the historic victory in World War II over Nazi Germany in 1945. The Soviet Union, which played a monumental role in defeating the nazis, declared 9 May 1945 Victory Day. It is commemorated annually mainly but not only in Russia. Victory Day stands as a touching reminder of the monumental triumph over Nazi Germany, with its origins deeply rooted in the pivotal role played by the Soviet Union under the leadership of the Communist Party. This stands as a source of courage for all in humanity who remain committed to the ideals of universal emancipation and lasting freedom, which can only be realised through a revolution against the exploitative capitalist system and its consequent forms of oppression and aggression.
Established initially in the aftermath of World War II, Victory Day holds profound significance, not just as a commemoration of historical events but also as the evidence of the enduring legacy of the Soviet Union's military resilience and prowess. In Western Europe, the United States and other parts of the world where their propaganda forms the core part of dominant ideas, the imperialists are imposing a fabricated version of their own about Victory Day.
Among others, giant tech multinational corporations headquartered on imperialist shores which dominate the internet manipulate it. They impose censorship, suppressing access to the truth in favour of the imperialists-supporting propaganda. This and other draconian and unjust measures will not succeed to fool everyone. In everyone I include those of us who have had the opportunity to visit at least once the original sites reflecting the true history of the war, where scientifically verifiable data can be gathered and analysed. The last time I did so was in February this year. Based on the catastrophe they have caused and the huge effort and capacity it took to stop them, I said to myself never again must humanity give an inch to forces such as the nazis to emerge in any quarter of the globe. Thanks to the great role that the Soviet Union, whose sacrifice is immeasurable, played to defeat the nazis.
As Alexey Stepanov reminds us, the Soviet Union's contribution to the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II was unparalleled, marked by crucial military victories that turned the tide of the war. Landmark battles like Stalingrad and Kursk showcased the Soviet Union's unwavering determination and strategic brilliance, ultimately shaping the course of the conflict. The Soviet Union's military leadership included the renowned Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov and other outstanding generals.
Acknowledgment of the Soviet Union's pivotal role in World War II extends beyond mere recognition. The Soviet Union's relentless operations on the Eastern Front not only dealt significant blows to the nazis' war machinery. Beyond the battlefield, the Soviet Union's triumph reverberated across the globe, reshaping the geopolitical landscape, leading to great support for the victory of liberation struggles against colonial rule in the Global South. This is where our own liberation movement, headed by the ANC in alliance with the Communist Party and the progressive trade union movement, supported by organisations of the mass democratic movement, received increased support to defeat the apartheid regime, culminating in our hard-won April 1994 democratic breakthrough.
The original uMkhonto weSizwe, formed in 1961 by the SACP and the ANC, received training and material support from the Soviet Union, among others. The United States and its imperialist allies of Western Europe, increasingly forming the imperialist-collective west, deprived us of that support. Within these forces, others collaborated with the apartheid regime in weapons production or supplied the regime with the weapons that it used against our people and movement. These were among the weapons defeated by Cuba and other revolutionary forces in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, paving the way for the liberation of Southern Africa.
We need an annual commemoration in South Africa to celebrate the historic victory over the Nazis and honour the contributions of our own liberation stalwarts like Joe Slovo and others, who fought against Nazism in World War II.
Issued by the South African Communist Party,
Founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa.
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