Toronto's Green Beanery Cafe and Wholesaler is politically complicated

I’m currently looking for replacement parts for my old Bodum burr grinder; this led me to Toronto’s Green Beanery. I had heard previously that the owner of Green Beanery was some kind of Internet mogul, so I went Wikipedia hunting. Coffee is always politically problematic

Not quite an Internet mogul, but very complicated indeed. Turns out, Green Beanery is a non-profit organization, that supposedly supports small coffee farmers. So far, so good. But, all of the profit goes to Energy Probe, an environmental NGO—still good. The founder of Green Beanery is Lawrence Solomon, a co-founder of Energy Probe. This is where things get complicated. Lawrence Solomon is a global warming denier, opposed to the expansion of Canadian nuclear power, in favour of transit privatization (especially the TTC), and calls for a “reform” of foreign aid. Energy Probe board members include Margret Wente, Andrew Coyne, and Clifford Orwin, all staunch pro-market, neo-conservatives (Wikipedia even going as far to call Orwin as a Straussian!). Energy Probe is described as being “ecocapitalist” and was adopted by Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario under Mike Harris.

While we’re at it, Ducks Unlimited saves wetlands so hunters can blast more ducks. Complicated indeed.

The Timbit Affair: visions of hockey and Canadian nationality are just as toxic as US "hegemony"

Getting fired for freely giving out a 16 cent Timbit donut is wrong. Getting fired for freely giving out a 16 cent Timbit donut in effort to provide good customer service is evil. (Rehiring said employee to avoid public relations nightmare doesn't change a thing) Turns out that visions of hockey players, strange Irish "rrroll" up the rim contests, and Canadian nationality don't necessitate ethical behaviour on the part of large multinational corporations. Just to put things in perspective, I used to work at Starbucks, the "most evil" coffee corporation of them all.

Evil because they spread into new areas, bankrupt smaller businesses, pay their employees terrible wages, and profit on the backs of small coffee-producing countries. Of course, judging from the 20-plus Tim Hortons found in each small town in Ontario, it seems that the darling of Canadian consumerism does the same thing. Tim Hortons also preys on poorer income "working class folk", typically the clientele that these "mom and pop" coffee shops in the neighbourhood also cater to. Starbucks provides health and dental coverage for full-time employees (over 30 hours/week) and engages in profit sharing through stock purchases (and has all sorts of incentive programs to "top up" employee stock purchases). Raises are small but come quickly when working at Starbucks, and they encourage staff to become low-level management. Tim Hortons pays well below subsistence level, and clearly is not enticing the most eligible employees with their benefits. Starbucks panders to the idea of Fair Trade coffee, although typically they pay fairly high prices because of their (mediocre) quality requirements (however, this discriminates against farmers who have a bad crop and cannot sell at the higher price). The coffee that Starbucks doesn't want gets sold to Nestle, who is the #1 purchaser of coffee in the world (purchases coffee at a rate in the orders of magnitude greater than Starbucks). If Nestle doesn't buy it, Tim Hortons probably does. Tim Hortons is no friend of the Fair Trade either, although doesn't even bother spending the marketing dollars to pander to the idea. Tim Hortons buys the cheapest coffee out there, ensuring that the farmers are literally slaves (how else do you think they can afford to sell a cup of coffee for $1?).

What does this show? That Starbucks is less evil than Tim Hortons? Sure, but not even Stalin would fire an employee for giving out a measly 16 cent Timbit. It really shows that the entire coffee trade is toxic, and systemic "virtues" of capitalism ensure that single mothers will be fired, farmers will be enslaved, and that a clever "working class" branding campaign is sufficient to trick to stupid ignorant proletarians into thinking that ol' wife-beating Tim Hortons is out there to help them. Consumerism: one cheap cup of coffee after the next.

[Edit: Brad wanted me to be clear that prols aren't stupid, they are just not aware of class analysis, and that there is no reason for them to be aware of it. For my part, I knew this, but sometimes it's helpful to be less careful for the sake of being incendiary.]

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