Hi Everyone! I am Terry Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of the Shannara, Landover, and Word/Void series. I also wrote novelizations for the movies Hook and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace as well as the SF thriller Street Freaks and the short fiction collection Small Magic.
I am here in support of my first new fantasy novel unrelated to anything else I've written in the last two decades or so. It is titled Child of Light. It is a perfect place for readers unfamiliar with my work, but readers who have been with me a long time will hopefully enjoy it too.
When I'm not writing and not in the midst of a pandemic, I spend my time traveling, enjoying my family, and reading whatever I can get my hands on.
Looking forward to answering your questions and talking about anything!
With Magic,
Terry
Hi Reddit,
Thank you for highlighting this important issue on r/news!
As founder and Executive Director of the International Rights Advocates, and before that, between 1989 and 2007, General Counsel and Executive Director of International Labor Rights Forum, I have been at the forefront of every major effort to hold corporations accountable for failing to comply with international law or their own professed standards in their codes of conduct in their treatment of workers or communities in their far flung supply chains.
After doing this work for several years and trying various ways of cooperating with multinationals, including working on joint initiatives, developing codes of conduct, and creating pilot programs, I sadly concluded that most companies operating in lawless environments in the global economy will do just about anything they can get away with to save money and increase profits. So, rather than continue to assume multinationals operate in good faith and could be reasoned with, I shifted my focus entirely, and for the last 25 years, have specialized in international human rights litigation.
The prospect of getting a legal judgement along with the elevated public profile of a major legal case (thank you, Reddit!) gives IRAdvocates a concrete tool to force bad actors in the global economy to improve their practices.
Representative cases are: Coubaly et. al v. Nestle et. al, No. 1:21 CV 00386 (eight Malian former child slaves have sued Nestle, Cargill, Mars, Hershey, Barry Callebaut, Mondelez and Olam under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act [TVPRA] for forced child labor and trafficking in their cocoa supply chains in Cote DβIvoire); John Doe 1 et al. v. Nestle, SA and Cargill, Case No. CV 05-5133-SVW (six Malian former child slaves sued Nestle and Cargill under the Alien Tort Statute for using child slaves in their cocoa supply chains in Cote DβIvoire); and John Doe 1 et. al v. Apple et. al, No. CV 1:19-cv-03737(14 families sued Apple, Tesla, Dell, Microsoft, and Google under the TVPRA for knowingly joining a supply chain for cobalt in the DRC that relies upon child labor).
If youβd like to learn more, visit us at: http://www.iradvocates.org/
Ask me anything about corporate accountability for human rights violations in the global economy:
-What are legal avenues for holding corporations accountable for human rights violations i
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| Questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| What would you like to see the west do with regards to human rights violations ongoing in China? | The only real weapon that we have realistically to address human rights violations in China is to use the power of the consumer. We need people to understand that purchasing products that may have been manufactured by forced labor or groups that have been persecuted by the Chinese government allows those violations to continue. We hope now that trade policy can be activated by the Biden administration to have these consumer tools available on a larger scale like prohibiting U.S. contractors from purchasing products that may have been manufactured in China with serious human rights violations in the supply chain. China offers cheap goods but in terms of human rights, they are very expensive. |
| ^(the below is a reply to the above) | βββ |
| Have you independently verified these claims of human rights violations? | Yes. I have personally made surprise inspections of cocoa plantations involved in our case and have observed and interviewed on many occasions young children who have been trafficked from Mali and Burkina Faso. I have personally investigated the supply chains of each of the companies we have sued and have gathered substantial evidence to support all of the allegations we are making. |
| Any brand name you recognize in your every day life that DOESN'T enslave children? | Most companies don't enslave children. The main area where that is a current problem is cocoa, coffee, and other commodity production in Africa. Other industries such as the garment and shoe manufacturers engage in extreme forms of exploitation of their workers, but they don't take the next step of enslavement. The workers in these factories are pretty close to the line though, in that they are "wage slaves". This means they earn barely enough to feed themselves to show up to work the next day. There is much to do to improve conditions for workers in virtually every international supply chain. |
| Is your organization doing anything to address forced labor of Uighur Muslims in supply chains that run through China? | Yes, we are discussing the situation with several other organizations to explore legal options. All of us would like to intervene and particularly |
A crudely drawn cartoon show from around 2007-2012, the title of the show was the name of the main character. It was something along the lines of "The Jerry ____ Show". The plotlines were almost nonsensical and never really went anywhere.
For example, one episode features him explaining to his mum that the dinner she cooked was shit and that they got "100 lollipops for Β£1.05 from a Jamaican man" instead.
If anyone has any idea what I'm rambling about, please leave a comment!
https://www.computerworld.com/article/2517653/after-verdict--debate-rages-in-terry-childs-case.html
https://www.infoworld.com/article/2653004/why-san-francisco-s-network-admin-went-rogue.html
Managers, don't let your networking babies grow up to be cowboys...
First off there are many great mentorship programs out there, I volunteer (I have a little bro) with BBBS so I can only speak from my perspective with the program. Becoming a big at BBBS means you are an adult male or female friend and role model to a boy or girl. You aren't supposed to be their teacher or someone who judges them, you're supposed to be a positive person, someone they can talk to and experiences new things with, a friend. The people who are offended and outraged at what Mr. Crews has said recently probably do not disagree with this type of program. Even though what BBBS is, is what he is advocating for. Put your money where your mouth is and consider becoming a positive masculine role model for a kid in need!
Edit: grammar
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| Questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| Are there any beloved brands that have a terrible supply chain that has gotten pretty much no major bad press? On the flip side, are there any brands portrayed as terrible in media (social or otherwise) when in reality they are among the most responsible? | Sure. We sued Tesla in the cobalt battery for EV's case because their supply chain was more easily observed and documented because California law requires CA companies to disclose suppliers in their supply chain. This highlights disclosure laws are helpful in this work to identify companies' suppliers and celebrate those that do good work. ALL companies that are making EV's are using the same cobalt mined by children in the DRC, that includes BMW, Daimler (makes Mercedes), Ford, GM, and Chrysler. We hope to be able to add them in a future complaint. |
| ββ | We continue to look for companies that are responsible so that we can promote them and work with them so that we can put pressure on companies that are not doing the right things. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any large companies with international supply chains that are acting responsibly. |
| ^(the below is a reply to the above) | βββ |
| That's depressing. | Yes, it certainly is but please do what you can to help solve the problems. When we come together, there is greater hope that we can change things for the better. |
| ^(the below is another reply to the original answer) | βββ |
| What about companies like Patagonia and things. Where part of their message is being a company focus on people and supply chain. Are most of them real or fake? | It's hard to generalize when there are so many companies, particularly in the garment and shoe industries, that are making claims about what they are doing. I personally believe Patagonia is doing a good job of policing its supply chain and has taken steps in the past to address problems discovered, including child labor. I wish I could hand you a list of all of the "good" companies but we don't have the resources to make an accurate list. As previously mentioned, we do have a list of ethical chocolate companies and I hope that someone can create similar lists in other sectors. |
| ^(the below is a reply to the above) | βββ |
| Mohop Shoes has been 100% ethical in every way since the day they opened, also a woman owned biz! π | Thanks! I'll check them out! |
^(the below is anothe
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