I hope this is the right section to post this!
There is currently a worker's strike going on in the Darjeeling region that's having a direct impact on tea. Here's an article from the BBC and another from teanewsdarjeeling.blogspot.com.
I find this kind of thing fascinating. It really drives home just how BIG the tea industry is, and connects me back to one of the sources of this beloved beverage. The history of tea is still being written - caravans and clipper ships might be a thing of the past, but as today's poll and this strike shows there are still real people on the other side of the planet working day after day to keep us in tea leaves.
Aug 22nd, '08, 21:44
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I am all for the fist of solidarity and I have always admired yours, but I think the Darjeeling issues revolve more around ethnicity and a movement to have a separate state of ethnic Nepalis (?) within India. Workers' rights are, I believe, not so much an issue ...greenisgood wrote: Think of my avatar as a Darjeeling worker's fist of solidarity. Tea laborers have been screwed over for centuries and anything they can do to better their lives is welcome by me.
I may be wrong here. I have only seen and heard shreds of info, but the situation is not good. Hopefully, cool heads will prevail and change will come easily.