'Los Afectados' ... 'The Affected'

Yes, school's almost out! And I have one last event to get through before my Econ final on Sunday. 'Los  Afectados' is a feature-length documentary that is being produced by my friend at colleague at Presidio School of Management, Nicole Sherwin.

This Thursday night, May 15, we will be holding a fundraising/awareness event at Bistro Yoffi on Chestnut Street, where we will be screening the trailer at around 7:30pm. Our goal is to raise at least $1500 to cover the production costs for interviews with experts in the realm of agriculture and agricultural abuses, including Noam Chomsky, Dan Koepell, Thomas Walker, and others to be determined.

Since the start of the 'Green Revolution,' many of Central America's farming regions have been assaulted by EPA and E.U. banned pesticides, herbicides and insecticides. These practices have led to enormous environmental contamination. Products produced in these regions, such as bananas, sugar and peanuts slip under the radar and into international markets for first world consumption. Workers and the general population in these farming regions endure a horrific multitude of illnesses including cancers, birth defects, sterility, and epidemic kidney failure. The terrible reality is that this region is a reflection of a global disaster. 

"The Affected" examines the history of Banana Republics and the manufacturing of chemical weapons during WWI and WWII that were later modified for dubious agricultural use.  The atrocities of the past will be compared with the abuses of the present. In Northern Nicaragua, for example, this chemical attack has culminated in what local epidemiologists have referred to as, 'a veiled genocide.'

Former banana workers in Nicaragua and the USA, or 'Los Affectados,' have taken legal action against Dow, Dole, and Shell for damages they suffered working with the infamous toxin DBCP, also known as Nemagon. Intrigue and duplicity abounds as a shadowy story of cover-ups and silencing emerges:  governments shrug their shoulders, multinationals slither through legal loopholes and offer out of court settlements to avoid culpability, while touting their social and environmental sustainability initiatives. In the midst of the chaos are the farm workers suffering from chemical warfare.