Home Law Nothing Succeeds Like Success: The Chiquita Banana Verdict?

Nothing Succeeds Like Success: The Chiquita Banana Verdict?

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by Mary W Maxwell, LLB

A major injustice of the past — the strong versus the weak, the rich versus poor — has just been sorted out by a jury, in the Chiquita Banana lawsuit. This is truly a new phenomenon. The only similar case I can think of was Britain’s settling a lawsuit, in 2013, by some Kenyan men whom it admittedly mistreated in 1953. (They were part of the Mau Mau resistance).  In this new case, we have United Fruit Company being held liable, in 2024, for the torture and/or murder of labor leaders in Latin America, particularly in Colombia, in the 1990s.

Before reporting on that, I want to explain the title of this article — Nothing Succeeds Like Success. I mean we should do more to celebrate, and “precedent-ize,” such court victories. They shouldn’t be viewed as pertinent only to the plaintiffs, or limited to the particulars. Rather, they are stunning events in the history of justice. The bad guys were in the dock and they couldn’t squirm out of it.

Typically, the powerful squirm out of lawsuits by paying a private settlement, or by getting the judge to dismiss the case. In the Mau Mau case, an English judge, Sir Richard McCombe (born 1952) could have catered to the defendants’ plea that the matter was too old to adjudicate, but he insisted on doing the right thing.

In the Chiquita banana case, announced this week, everyone would have thought “No way can the plaintiffs win; the Big, Fat Exporters are just too big and fat.” (I’d have said so myself.) But the plaintiffs won.

How is it that the memory of victories fades away? It must be that we don’t have a good system for “solidifying” these happy memories of justice. Of course, it’s also that the powerful control the media and the media is just as equipped to “block” as it is to “flood.”

(Let me give a homely example, a tiny example, of media-blockage. In 2020, I was a candidate on the ballot in New Hampshire’s Republican presidential primary. Trump won, Gov Weld Came second, I came third.  Another 7 wannabees followed. This was announced on the night, by New York Times, Wikipedia, etc. But later, Wikipedia dropped me off the page. There is no “Mary Maxwell” listed today as a runner in the 2020 race. The guy who came fourth is shown as third (Joe Walsh). Does it matter? Yes, because I write dissident books. In them, I mention my little 2020 victory. The book reader probably looks me up on Wiki, and sees that I am “lying” about my success. Oh dear.)

The slogan “Nothing succeeds like success” should probably be modified to “A significant win can lead exponentially to many more wins, provided there is a way to communicate the win.”

Bananas

Here, briefly, is the Chiquita case. There is a rough-gang type of organization called the AUC, Spanish for “United Self-Defense forces of Colombia.” According to the BBC:

“The paramilitary group more often acted as a death squad for drug traffickers.  At its height, it had an estimated 30,000 members who engaged in intimidation, drug trafficking, extortion, forced displacement and killings. It also launched brutal attacks on villagers they suspected of supporting left-wing rebels.”

The recent judgment is from a federal district court in Miami, and may not prevail against appeal, but we can nevertheless view it as a landmark ruling. The civil case was brought by families whose loved one was killed by the AUC. I suppose those families could have tried to sue the AUC in a Colombian court. But instead they have sued “the banana giant,” Chiquita, claiming that that company paid the AUC to do this violent work, and therefore can be held liable. (I don’t mean liable for the crime of murder, just civilly liable for damages.)

It is difficult to get such a case going, but it sems that, back in 2007, Chiquita was prosecuted by the US government, for the crime of giving money to a terrorist organization. The big banana company, whose business base is in Florida, admitted that it had made some payment to the AUC, alleging it was “protection money.”  They pled guilty 17 years ago! So there you have it — Chiquita made that confession in the 2007 case, and paid a fine of $25 million to the US for the crime of dealing with a US-listed terrorist organization. But oh, what a tangled web they weaved!

I won’t go further into that case as I lack sufficient  background. But I hold to my statement that nothing succeeds like success, and so if you want this sort of justice to succeed, you have to keep talking about it. No doubt millions of South Americans have suffered at the hands of United Fruit.  I think the 1954 coup in Guatemala is an example of that, and that President Eisenhower abetted it.

Castration, Anyone?

My coverage of the Mau Mau case here will also be brief. Britain had many colonies in Africa up until the 1950s. Did they treat people well or horribly? Apparently, you don’t need to guess. They kept records of the efforts to squelch popular movements violently.

Those records were discovered more or less accidentally, thanks to the fact that a history student at Harvard — Caroline Elkins — a summa cum laude grad of Princeton, got interested in oppression in Africa. In 2007 she published Imperial Reckoning (a whistleblower-type item, which did not prevent her getting tenure as a Harvard professor in 2009. Oh for those halcyon days!).

From reading her book, some survivors of the 1953 Mau Mau uprising in Kenya were able to track down proof of what had happened to them. One of the plaintiffs could show personal evidence that he had been castrated with pliers. I don’t know if that was also corroborated by the trove of documents found at Hanslope Park, UK. However, by the time the plaintiffs sued the British government, several academic historians had examined this huge collection of files. Professor Caroline Elkins notes that many more such files were destroyed after the word got out.

I am not sure why those files have not resulted in many more ex-colonials coming to court.  In the 2013 case, millions of pounds were paid to the families, and the government issued an apology. There are umpteen technical, and diplomatic means of preventing civil cases from getting heard. And as for prosecutions, well,…dream on!

Dream On

Actually, “dreaming on” is what I am arguing for. Just this month there is a call for public submissions to the Australian Parliament on a bill, proposed by Senator Lidia Thorpe, to criminalize genocide. Although Australia signed the international Genocide Convention in 1948, on the very day it was offered, there is no corresponding domestic legislation. If enacted now, such a law would cover only future crimes of genocide, not the past persecution of Aboriginals.

So do I think it will result in a win for a future case, let’s say a 2025 prosecution? No. A statute is not the same as a jury verdict.  In order for a jury to come into existence, someone — e.g., the attorney general — has to start a prosecution, has to “bring charges,” as it were. Therein lies the Catch-22: governments do not want to prosecute themselves.

I hear you say “Elementary, my dear Watson.” True, it’s about as elementary as you can get. Something should be done about it.  As recently stated in my article about 9-11, the US Attorney for New York’s Southern District has even got away — judicially — with refusing to pass vital information to a grand jury. The Lawyers’ Committee or 9-11 Inquiry met a brick wall — an unconstitutional brick wall — when that US Attorney said, and an appeals court agreed, that he did not have to relay allegations of crimes inside the Twin Towers to a jury foreman. Outrageous!

Article Omnia praesumuntur,

I suggested that we apply the law maxim Omnia praesumuntur, contra spoliatorem — “Against the suppressor of evidence the crime, guilt can be presumed.” And how about that famous maxim “Nemo judex in causa sua”? No man can be the judge in a case in which he has an interest.

Hey Mister Tallyman, Tally Me Banana

What is law?  French thinker Claude-Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) said “Law is justice.” I agree. The purpose of any society making laws for itself is to have a way of sorting out the injustices which arise all the time. People take advantage. Or, as Thucydides put it: “The strong exact what they can and the weak grant what they must.”

Everybody knows Harry Belafonte’s song about the banana laborers. Everybody knows the system was brutal. Everybody knows somebody should have done something about it. (Even if it made bananas more expensive). Everybody knows Americans should not have abetted the 1954 Guatemala coup. Everybody knows we shouldn’t have conducted syphilis experiments in Guatemala (Bill Clinton apologized for it, as president).

Everybody knows all that stuff.

So now we have a jury verdict. What to do?

Talk about it.

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22 COMMENTS

    • The world is changing. Read Scott Ritter’s closing speech at this conference.

      https://www.pressenza.com/2024/06/the-danger-of-nuclear-war-is-real-and-must-be-stopped/

      The insane idiots in the West have pushed and poked for too long. China went on a ‘war economy’ in April 2022. The Chinese and the Russians know there is no longer any hope of reasoning with unreasonable people. The Russians have a term that roughly translates to ‘agreement incapable’, that is, the person is a liar a deceiver, is dishonest. That is the view that the Russians and Chinese have taken of the West.

      The Deagle Report indicates a loss of 1/3 of the Australian population in 2025.

      The U.S. bases in Oz will definitely take a hit. Other areas like Sydney with the Richmond Air Base will likely be targeted. The closest ‘target’ to me is the Williamtown Air Base north of Newcastle, hopefully the wind will be off-shore at the time.

      A person I follow that lives in China has discussed the Chinese attitude to nuclear war – the whole population will support it, they see it coming, they have prepared for it. He also mentions the loss of Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. I was disappointed he didn’t mention Canberra.

    • Thanks a lot Joe, the video clips are just horrifying.
      Did not see either of the films ….. hollyhell is full of psychos even to make that stuff.
      Anyway for some hope refer to the BOSI interview reported below.

  4. Dodgy Bill Shorten has been promoted to temporary foreign minister to Ukraina@Swissy2024Fest. Why asks M$M, but BS doesn’t know why except he is hot stuff. BS tells us large ( ie powerful ) countries should not invade small ( weak countries ), obviously Israel taking over British Palestine and kicking the semites out across the river, does not count. Interview finishes with a flourish, M$M asks are you a good partner to Ukraina if they ask for coal and you don’t send it ? BS says we sent them a bunch of money instead and they were pretty happy with that !!!
    Yeah I bet, Swissy’s BIS money, you can spend it anywhere.

  5. Ok something to explain some hope.
    At beforeitsnews.com – people powered news.
    Bosi’s interview is about 2.5 hours.
    Most of it is trite, (for the abnormals) so start at about the 2 hour mark for some insight in what is the present situation, reasons and Bosi’s opinion on the need for the November election. He makes a lot of sense for his opinion. Those who can spare Over 7 minutes might get some insight. Just listen and consider the common sense and BASIS.
    Toward the end go to the paint shop, compare colour charts and select yours.
    “Patriot underground this is big. R. BOSI EXPLAINS SCARE. NECESSARY EVENT and Q drop”.
    T.O. – worth the lot! Do in sections.
    BTW I believe that Bosi went to Waverley college. (Not I think G told me so)

      • Last time I heard Bosi he had invented nouvopolitiq “Anyone doesn’t like what I say I don’t give a fuck they can get fucked I sold my house etc etc”
        Suggest a chainsaw for a prop and cut everything

        • Joe – you really have to stop quoting out of context – you are simple doing the lying media’s tricks. If you have a gripe about Bosi, then at least put up the video that you quote from so that everyone who chooses to watch it can at least comprehend the message that Bosi puts out.

    • Watched it all yesterday – best parts after 1 hour and 30 minutes. Amazing how AustraliaOne is more recognized around the world than in this country – especially Bosi’s knowledge, assessments and remedies.

      His opinion concerning any November election this year in the U.S. did not take into account that Trump won the 2020 election, bar one state. That 2020 coup by the Deep State has to become front and center, and dealt with accordingly, before any legitimate election may be held.

      His assessment concerning the ‘Q’ Plan would be a valuable tool for those who still deny that ‘Q’ even exists.

  7. from Clif

    https://clifhigh.substack.com/p/nesaragesara-the-progress-report?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=681568&post_id=145697952&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=266zdu&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
    NESARA/GESARA – The Progress Report
    QFS, Dinar & Zimbabwe RV.

    “In the early 1970s, U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger negotiated with Saudi Arabia and later other OPEC nations to price and trade oil exclusively in U.S. dollars. In return, the U.S. offered military protection and security guarantees to these oil-producing nations.

    Effects:

    Global Demand for the Dollar: The petrodollar system increased global demand for the dollar since countries now needed substantial dollar reserves to purchase oil. This helped offset potential negative impacts from the end of the gold standard.

    U.S. Economic Leverage: By ensuring that oil sales worldwide were denominated in dollars, the U.S. could exert considerable influence over global economic conditions. It also provided the U.S. with significant leverage in geopolitical matters.

    Impact on Oil-Producing Countries: These countries accumulated large reserves of dollars, which they often invested back into U.S. assets, further integrating their economies with that of the U.S.

    Overall, these strategic economic maneuvers by Nixon and Kissinger significantly distorted global financial systems and political relationships, effects of which are still manifesting in various ways in today’s international economic landscape. Most of the more visible manifestations are the Wars.

    We are now at the end of the Federal Reserve system’s fiat (debt) currency. There is the expectation for a resurgent Constitutional dollar to emerge in these next years to replace the Federal Reserve debt currency. Note that it will NOT be a case of ‘revalued’ Federal Reserve Notes. As the Constitutional dollar emerges, it is expected that its purchasing value will be tied to the gold and silver involved in the currency. It is expected that Federal Reserve notes (the actual paper debt instruments) will go the way of the Confederate currency, and become a collectible item with value only as a curiosity. Much like the Iraqi and Zimbabwe currencies.

    All that remains is debt.

    Humanity is now at the end of the Federal Reserve’s fiat money scheme that had conquered the whole of our globe.”

  8. So what now, as krown kabal hands Oz to CCP? Sitting ducks downunder as those that have something here are bought out by cashed up communist youth brotherhood unity global.
    Yes, banana republic with the depression we had to have, shutting down all industry here moving it mostly to China and other offshore gulags. Now we’re getting it, the 5G social credit takeover. CCP aren’t here for a holiday, they’re here to make the invasion formal. Done deal for Oz, NZ and Canada. White flag without a shot fired.
    China Coast Guard replacing US coast guard globally. And the few at the top won’t have it any other way. 🇨🇳 is good for business as Aussie stock is replaced.
    Our politicians, on either side of the fence, traitors complicit with genocide.

  10. Jobst Landgrebe explains why Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will NEVER be possible and why Skynet won’t become self-aware! We have used up most of the great inventions in the application of physics and there is a limit to progress, we are faced with a slowdown in technological advancement. The human mind is a complex system and CANNOT be mathematically modeled. The singularity is a neo-pagan pseudo-religious concept. Technology has become the god or metaphysics or new religion of today. He discusses the realistic potential of artificial intelligence and automation

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