The president of the german farmer association, Gerd Sonnleitner, called the actual brazilian agriculture a "slaveholder agriculture". In context of the plans of the eu commision to cut the subventions on the sugar industry he said: "If this sugestion is put into action, a sustainable and environmentally sound production of sugar [in europe] will be sacrificed to a slaveholder agriculture in brazil", reports Newsclick.

I think, this is really a fleer. Since 40 years the european union protects and subvents its own sugar market, maintaining a price three times higher than on the world market. The overproduction is sold to the world market for dumping prices. This way the poor countries are hitten twice: they can't export their sugar to europe, and by importing the cheap sugar from europe they destroy their own sugar industry. A german weblogger put together very interesting sources and studies to proove this.

And up to this point, we not even have spoken about what continent started slaveholdery in brazil and for who's profit. Sugar and rubber where under the goods, which europeans produced cheap in their oversea colonies, and the working conditions were deathly. Deathly for for the humans, as in case of the sugar industry mostly imported slaves from africa worked so hard they died at young age, and deathly also for the traditional culture, as is prooven in the case of the rubber tappers in peru. At this time the system of haciendas, patrons and exploitation of workers with contractual and tributary system was invented. Now, as this parts of the world aren't under our power anymore and thus a competition for our market, to call them slaveholder agriculture, this is really a big shame and a total neglection of our responsibility for postcolonial problems in former colonies. It's not that we aren't allowed to criticise the brazilian sugar industry, but not with these words and not with the aim to maintain our system which is responsible for other problems in other poor countries.

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