Publication
Title
Gangmastering passata : multi-territoriality of the food system and the legal construction of cheap labor behind the globalized Italian tomato
Author
Abstract
Italy is the second largest producer of tomatoes in the world after the United States, and it is often considered the homeland of this food. Yet, the Italian tomato is much more than Italian. If one considers the people,geography, regulations, and history behind the “golden pome” (pomo-d’oro in Italian), there is no other conclusion than it is inherently local and global. In the last years, the Italian tomato sector has been under scrutiny for reliance on exploited labor, egregious living conditions, and the role of organized crime in trading human beings as any other commodity (“gangmastering” or caporalato). By embedding the Italian industrial tomato into a critical and multi-territorial legal approach to the food system, my contribution aims to offer a different perspective on the illegal action of labor intermediation as one of the most discussed issues surrounding the production of Italian tomatoes. Rather than presenting exploitation and caporalato as exceptions, this paper analyzes them through the lenses of trade law, competition law, and migration law as more appropriate lenses to understand the role of cheap labor in the construction of the global Italian tomato. If that is the case, legal interventions cannot be local and specific, but must be systemic, multi-layered and, therefore, based on dialogue and solidarity among workers, lawyers, activists, and academics across the whole tomato chain.
Language
English
Source (journal)
FIU law review / Florida International University. College of Law. - [Miami, Fla.], 2006, currens
Publication
[Miami, Fla.] : Florida International University, College of Law , 2021
ISSN
2643-7759
DOI
10.25148/LAWREV.14.3.8
Volume/pages
14 :3 (2021) , p. 521-544
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Law 
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
VABB-SHW
Record
Identifier
Creation 01.03.2021
Last edited 14.08.2024
To cite this reference