The recent disclosures regarding the connection between industry and slavery are thought-provoking, but the story doesn’t stop there (Like the Guardian, Manchester is reckoning with its historical links to slavery, 3 April). At this time of chocolate egg consumption, we shouldn’t overlook the link between chocolate and slavery. It is estimated that between 1500 and 1900, over 10 million people were transported across the Atlantic to work on sugar plantations that were a vital ingredient in popularising the chocolate industry.
Even today, according to reports, exploitative child labour still exists on cocoa farms in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. As we break into our Easter eggs, we should spare a thought not only for the past but also for the present.
Tony Boobier
Bearsted, Kent
