In a New Year’s morning action, fourteen Chicago area peacemakers raised concerns about 123 Colombian families forcibly displaced from their farmland in Las Pavas, Colombia by returning tainted gifts to a local Body Shop retail outlet.

      Gifts boxes with “product tainted” return labels lined the sidewalk outside the downtown Chicago store, pronouncing the human and environmental abuses of the chain’s Colombian palm oil supplier, Daabon Organics.  “Threats, Corruption, Eviction, Environmental Damage, Unemployment, Poverty,” read the oversize tags.

      Those returning the gifts contrasted the realities of Las Pavas--eviction and conversion of the land from biodiverse flora, fauna and food crops to oil palm monoculture for export--with statements from The Body Shop’s web site.  

“You promised …protection of human rights, but this palm oil is tainted with armed threats; …to work against greed and dishonesty, but your palm oil is grown on land obtained through corruption; …to campaign against injustice, but your growers evicted farmers with a legitimate land claim; …protection of the earth, but this oil palm monocropping is devastating a rich and diverse ecosystem in Colombia; …sustainable income, but this palm oil took away farm jobs and caused unemployment.”

      The group sang adapted Christmas carols and a rewrite of “Pop goes the weasel” that summarized the situation and their call:

“From farmland in Colombia, the guns chased off the people

Daabon got title to the land – “Stop!” say the people.

A penny for the drug dealer’s clan, a penny for the gov’nor,

Palm oil for the Body Shop--“Stop!” say the people.     

      CPT Reservist Duane Ediger and delegate Bob Palmer had visited the displaced farmers during a CPT delegation in October.  Police turned the two away when they attempted to return the tainted gifts and open a conversation with shop workers.  Ediger and Palmer committed to returning after arranging an appointment with store management.

      Photos of the action are available here.

      Dates of CPT’s international delegations to Colombia in 2010 are May12-25, July 14-27 and September 15-28.  See www.cpt.org or call CPT at 773-376-0550 for more details.