This exploratory presentation shows a snapshot of rubber tapping at Firestone Rubber Company in Liberia. This project is part of the course Ecologies of Resistance, Transformation and Alternative Development at Clark University.

1. Ecologies
of
Resistance,
Transforma3ve
Change
and
Alterna3ve
Development:
Rubber
Tapping-­‐the
Case
of
Firestone
in
Liberia
Jenkins
Macedo
Spring
2012

2. Rubber Tappers in Liberia
Firestone Stop Child Labor!

6. Map of the Firestone Rubber Plantation

8. Built 1942 by the USG

9. Brief History of Firestone In Liberia
² 1926 GoL and Firestone signed a 99-year contract for $5M for 1
million acres (405,000 hectares) for rubber plantation.
² 4% of the country’s territory with 10% of its arable land.
² 24o square miles
² 7, 000 employees (rubber tappers)
² 8,000 undocumented workers
² Latex produced assist the Allies to defeat the Axis Powers during
WWII.

10. Socio-economic & Health Implications
² Monthly latex production US/$2,296.80 in Liberia ($3,915.00 US)
² Paid $125.00
² Workers live in dilapidated housing built in the 1930s.
² Chemicals Application include both fungicide, herbicide and
stimulants
² Tappers and their families are expose to carcinogenic substances,
e.g. Asbestos and chemicals used on the plantation.
² Lack of cleaning drinking water
² Poor sanitary conditions

11. Illegal Rubber Tapping
² Illegal rubber tapping on “no
man’s land” a phrase common
among ex-combatant rubber
tappers.
² Reinforces insecurity

12. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdvqcckCREQ
Has Firestone Liberia Gone Far Enough in
Workplace Reforms?