MONKEY BUSINESS
Sep 14th, 2011 by haileyrae
A scene from Fredrik Gertten's "Bananas!"
More hot fudge or nuts with that contentious banana split?
Maybe both in the case of the Dole Food company vs. Tellez et al. with lawyer Juan Dominguez leading the charge in 2007.
Sifting fact from fiction and the ethical from the immoral has become a hot mess and a hard legal nut to crack.
Since Fredrik Gertten’s airing of his ‘Bananas!’ the case has become more than a question of ethics; it has become an exercise in corporate power play and the malleability of the American justice system.
At first declared a victory for Nicaraguan banana workers made sterile due to exposure to the wrongful and prolonged use of a banned pesticide by Dole, it has become an involved appeal process, overturned ruling and nauseating expose on the unchecked power of a multinational corporation possessing ample financial leverage.
Rather than acknowledge what may well have been a profound executive mistake, Dole’s choice to launch a formidable counter attack following their initial jury trial loss casts further doubt regarding their slippery ethical skin.
Their subsequent efforts to indict Dominguez and block further documentary releases about their actions have mired the case in so much legal hot fudge and fraud that those with the intent and fortitude to challenge them have long since collapsed to the financial burdens of the legal system, or have died due to the effects of the pesticide.
This case is bananas. Dole’s disgrace is as certified as it’s fair trade stamp of approval; proof that multinational corporations are still king of the jungle.
Haven’t watched the documentary? Pull up a chair…..
IDA Editorial Staff. “Controversy Surrounds ‘Bananas!’.” Documentary.org. June 12, 2009.