I support fair trade. I am not an isolationist, a protectionist or against trade. Trade is about relationships and how the trading partners treat one another, when one side uses its muscle to exploit and oppress the other into accepting unequal trade relationships then something is fundamentally wrong.
I have written about fair trade previously. Now it is time to take another look.at it . Why? If we are going to reverse our course and avoid disaster, we need to rethink how we do business. Fair Trade provides us with a way to achieve this new thinking. The following sites will give you a good grounding about fair trade and how it operates:
In addition, there is an excellent guide published by the New Internationalist, The No Nonsense Guide to Fair Trade, written by David Ransom, that is well worth reading. I also recommend reading Second Story Press, "Women Working the NAFTA Food Chain."
After you have read this book you will give pause before purchasing an out of season tomato or hopefully even one that you have not grown yourself or at least know who and where it was grown. It will also shed light on the truth behind these so-called free trade agreements and who really benefits from them. An informed consumer is an empowered consumer.
I like bananas but like coffee the exploitation that is sued to get them to market is unacceptable. So when i ran across organic bananas in a local supermarket I bought them. I have only been able to find organic bananas twice in the last six months. Now that I know they exist I will not settle for anything less and have told the store managers where I shop that I will buy only organic, fair trade bananas. Consumer power, use it to make a difference.
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