Many years ago, in fact 68 years ago, certain goods became unavailable in the UK. As a nation we relied on imports for approximately half of our food, this delivered at the time almost exclusively by sea. Then came the war. This was the Second World one by the way. Anyway, the Germans – or Nasties – decided that they should dictate to us (and the Europeans) and thus sent a bunch of Youboats out into the sea to sink ships and stop the food getting here.
THERE WERE NO BANANAS IN GREAT BRITAIN FOR YEARS!
Now, this was of course of great heartache to many of my fellow countrymen, countrywomen and countrychildren – some who, like my father, never saw a banana until they were nearing their teens. We take bananas for granted now, and mangos, and never put ourselves in the situation of our forefathers. No bananas is an awful state to be in. But there was an even worse state to be in at that time.
The Windward Islands.
The Windward Islands exist solely for the purpose of growing bananas.The economy and the people depend on their bananas to provide an income to maintain their own lives. To quote one site: “Banana farmers often spend more than half their earnings on pesticides, fertiliser, packaging and transporting their bananas from the farms to the docks.” Now, this is all very well and good, normal commercial input/output and basic business practice BUT what if you have either A: no buyers or B: no market? Well, your whole livelihood is on a slippery slope. Make no mistake, a slippery slope is downhill all the way.
It is my belief that Germany should now be forced to PUBLICLY APOLOGISE and PAY REPERATIONS to the good, hard-working folk of the Windward Islands for the hardships they had to face during zee vor when the Kriegsmarine was denying the God-fearing British public their bananas. Though never declaring war on the W.I. they must have surely brought it to their knees. We are fortunate that they survived at all and were able to resupply us postwar as ersatz bananas would never have been acceptable to our proud nation. Perhaps the W.I. would also now be a leading power rather than some tinpot banana republic slaving away in the sun to make ends meet.
It is easy to say that the past is the past and Nazism and the Third Reich should be forgotten and brushed under the carpet – BUT THAT IS WRONG! We still feel the ramifications today – it is merely a click of your fingers away in the past. It is a legacy of what, two generations? I’m sorry, just because our political masters want to brush it under the table as if it never happened doesn’t mean it never happened. Think about that next time you peel a banana, think and then demand that Germany compensate the Windward Islanders for the damage that has been caused.
By: Arabella-Cox - 9th July 2007 at 09:02
Watched a documentary a while back about the inuit people of Alaska and how they went from earning about $20,000 a year from the fur trade to zero a year thanks to the anti-fur campaigners.
If the world was fair, yes there would be appologies, but why limit ourselves to Germany… the west is rich and powerful and yet we b!tch on and on about the Amazon rainforest being cut down for commercial purposes. There was no such thing as political correctness to stop us from cutting down our forests to make farms or to make way for cities.
Funny thing about Bananas is it is a very political market. Europe and America have their own banana markets and never the twain shall meet. Each empire has its own banana republics to support so to speak…
By: Snapper - 9th July 2007 at 08:23
Sex and bananas in the same paragraph, getting pretty close to the censor’s pencil! (and that is two threads in a row you mention bananas).
You, sir, have a filthy mind. The first mention of bananas reminded me of this important topic.
The islands seemed to have recovered pretty well from the abolition of slavery and now thrive on tourism, petroleum refining and offshore finance (money laundering) not to mention the illegal transhipment of pleasure enhancing chemicals.
Ah, you see? they had to find an alternative and less savoury method of generating an income. Playing host to fat colonials with loud clothes and louder voices for two weeks of vacation is a terrible fate for any banana growing farmer.
Your threads seem to have some resemblance in dialogue to Stormbird 262, any connection?:D
They do? I see no smilies and less greetings. I think you are surely mistaken. Only connection is that I know Phil through email and this board. I have been here a long time. It has addled my mind.
By: Newforest - 9th July 2007 at 07:51
They may well have been difficult to get in Britain, but what about in Germany?
Don’t ask me, I wasn’t here then! I would have been on the winning side if I’d arrived earlier. Bananas were 1d, that is one penny each when they were reintroduced after the war and incidentally I used to work for Fyffes at one time.
By: Barnowl - 9th July 2007 at 01:00
They may well have been difficult to get in Britain, but what about in Germany?
By: Newforest - 8th July 2007 at 22:41
Sex and bananas in the same paragraph, getting pretty close to the censor’s pencil! (and that is two threads in a row you mention bananas).
The islands seemed to have recovered pretty well from the abolition of slavery and now thrive on tourism, petroleum refining and offshore finance (money laundering) not to mention the illegal transhipment of pleasure enhancing chemicals.
Your threads seem to have some resemblance in dialogue to Stormbird 262, any connection?:D
By: Snapper - 8th July 2007 at 22:20
Even the spivs couldn’t get them, and even oranges were only imported for Christmas.
The VERGE of economical ruin, not economical ruin. The size of the verge is immaterial. Lets take a simple analogy: A company producing pornographic movies featuring safe sex which is then blockaded on all sides by a papal edict has no way to supply its product to its market and is thus unable to dispose of a product for which it has paid to produce is unable to subsequently pay staff or warehousing costs. It has a product which it cannot sell and which is mounting up. Over time replacements of a different nature are found and these may or may not be as desirable – thus at such time as it is possible to place these movies back on the open market again the desire has dwindled. Okay, so a large demand may exist again – but with no capital or stock to supply said market it must begin again with a smaller primary resource than it might otherwise have had thus setting back its original growth and market share by years, perhaps never regaining the lost ground. In this instance the papacy would be to blame as the papal edict would have been the direct cause of the failure to keep the suppliers in business. Thus the Windward Islands lost ground and market share, and the ramifications are felt even now with cheaper bananas being available from nations producing them to fill the void left by their isolation from their market, nations with no prior history to suppling such large quanities of bananas. I find this disgraceful.
By: kev35 - 8th July 2007 at 21:57
Mmmmm. Interesting theories but do you have any empirical evidence to support your claim that the Windward Islands was brought to the verge of economical ruin?
Rather, I would have thought that the banana trade would improve dramatically, and the prices increase, precisely because of their scarcity as a direct consequence of the marauding U Boat packs sinking so much Allied and Neutral shipping.
Regards,
kev35
Sign In
July 8, 2007 at 9:52 pm