Jonathan Janssens
@jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
1.9K followers 410 following 200 posts
Coordinator Gent Fair Trade @Oxfam, for City of Ghent (Belgium). Working on lifestyle change, corporate sustainability and sustainable public procurement. #humanrights #labourrights #ethicalsourcing #extractivism #advocacy #fairtrade #fashionrevolution
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jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
If you aren't angry, you're not paying attention
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
Trump, die militairen inzet tegen eigen mensen, eist meer geld voor militairen en krijgt bijval van een nationalistische defensieminister die in het verleden al onmenselijk beleid pushte (o.a. pleitten voor het opsluiten van kinderen en samenwerken met regimes zoals Soedan 'om migratie te beperken')
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
#Conscious
#eco-friendly
#sustainable

Almost half of all environmental claims made by online traders are exaggerated, false or deceptive.

When lying is allowed, honest entrepreneurs are punished.

Disappointing
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
"Chatgpt, schrijf een bericht waarin ik een wapenstilstand aankondig. Mijn naam is Donald. Stijl: de bomma die net sociale media heeft ontdekt"
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
Musk and Trump are teaching the world a valuable lesson: When two (powerful) parties fight, it doesn’t mean you have to pick a side. Sometimes both are wrong, petty and despicable in their own ways.
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
Comeosleden (o.a. Decathlon en Amazon): "Wij willen minder regeltjes. Je kan ons toch niet verantwoordelijk stellen voor wanpraktijken aan de andere kant van de wereld!"

Maar ook: "Wij kunnen niet concurreren met Shein, want die betalen hun werknemers niet en houden zich niet aan de regels."
Helft Belgische online shoppers kocht al op Chinese webshops: “Met jurkjes van 8 euro voel ik mij een miljonair”
Belgen zijn in een mum van tijd verslaafd geraakt aan Chinese webshops als Shein, ook al beseft de meerderheid dat de kwaliteit niet altijd deugt. Een op de tien bestelt zelfs wekelijks een pakketje.
www.standaard.be
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
3/ There isn't an easy answer to the question: "What should I buy?"

Labels and reforms exist, but on 'moving workplaces' in international waters, oversight fails.

#ModernSlavery thrives at sea, so it seems.
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
2/ It's often migrant workers that are trapped for months on boats, unpaid and abused. Confiscated IDs, withheld pay, beatings, no medical care. There are plenty scandals, in West Africa, Southeast Asia, the UK and the EU.
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
1/ A while ago I received a question on the sustainability of #fish. Often, the focus is ecological (overfishing, bycatch, ocean health...), but human rights are just as critical.

Fishing crews work under so called '3D conditions' (Dirty, Dangerous and Difficult) + adding a 4th D: Dehumanising.
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
Een veldtrip met @bartox.bsky.social en @koenvantroos.bsky.social, kan niet anders dan een interessante dag opleveren 😉
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
#extractivism
Just 100 corporations are behind 20% of global extractive conflicts, mostly in the global South. Nearly half of the corporations are headquartered in the global North.

They benefit from resource extraction while local communities face displacement, pollution, and violence.
100 corporations behind a fifth of global extractive conflicts, study reveals
Just 100 corporations are behind a fifth of the documented extractive conflicts worldwide, exposing how companies from the Global North seize resources and profits, while social and ecological harms a...
phys.org
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
#extractivism Circular in marketing, linear in practice

The global economy now recycles less than 7% of the 106 billion tonnes of materials it consumes each year, down from 9.1% in 2015

Yet politicians push for more mines (EU), new fossil fuel crackers (Antwerp), less rules for industry (EU/US)...
Report: Global economy becoming less circular despite increased recycling efforts - edie
Recycling alone cannot be used to create a truly circular global economy because material consumption is increasing so sharply, according to a landmark new report from Deloitte Global and Circle Econo...
www.edie.net
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
Deep-sea ecosystems can take centuries to recover, yet research relies heavily on mining companies for access. The industry controls both the impact and the data.

The US act of war on nature, pushing for deep-sea mining, will cause irreversible damage.
Scars from the world's first deep sea mining test 50 years on
Half a century after the world's first deep sea mining tests picked nodules from the seafloor off the US east coast, the damage has barely begun to heal.
www.bbc.com
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
/4 On legitimizing the far right: Israel shows that normalization doesn’t tame the tiger. These movements are never satisfied, not even with genocide. Appeasement doesn’t bring stability, it invites escalation without end.
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
/3 What we risk losing isn’t just funding or policies, it’s the political imagination to believe cities can be moral actors. Yesterday was a reminder of what remains possible if we resist shrinking our ideals.
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
2/ We spoke of Ghent’s pioneering topics: fair trade, decolonization, sustainable food justice. Can these hold in an age when even moderates mirror the far-right in an efford to contain it, and instead legitimize it? Belgium, nor Ghent are are islands in this storm.
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
1/ Yesterday in Ghent, we sat down with the deputy mayor (@hafsahopsasa.bsky.social) and key orgs (Amnesty, Oxfam, Red Cross...) to reflect on how a world turning its back on solidarity reshapes local action. #War, #intolerance and fear creep in where trust and cooperation are retreating.
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
When Trump talks about Fair Trade, I laugh.

In 2015 alone, the global North appropriated 12 billion tons of raw materials, 822 million hectares of land, 21 exajoules of energy, and 188 million person-years of labor from the global South, worth $10.8 trillion in Northern prices.
Imperialist appropriation in the world economy: Drain from the global South through unequal exchange, 1990–2015
Unequal exchange theory posits that economic growth in the “advanced economies” of the global North relies on a large net appropriation of resources a…
www.sciencedirect.com
jonathanjanssens.bsky.social
Calling this #ecoterrorism isn’t hyperbole. It’s deliberate, large-scale destruction of shared environments for private gain, without global consent. This violence isn’t just ecological, it’s political.

Let's call it by its name: An act of war by the US.