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Support Fair Trade

Employ People, Feed Families and Help Retain Their Dignity

Apr 18, 2007

When we support fair trade we lower national barriers, provide jobs for disadvantaged and disabled people and contribute to help improve the environment.

By supporting fair trade we help smaller communities feed their families who are financially disadvantaged and unable to compete with larger corporations. Buying products from companies that support fair trade help give people the dignity they deserve by allowing them to contribute as productive members of society.

Families are then able to send their children to school and buy them food and clothes which are simple things most of us take for granted. Fair Trade Federation participants often include people who have disabilities that would otherwise have difficulty finding employment. An example of such a case is a man named Lucio Malhoe in Pomaire, Chili who is a talented potter that suffers from a slight disability. His brother Orlando owns the shop and has noticed a decline in their sales since plastic has slowly begun to take over.

Ten Thousand Villages support fair trade and have many stores in the U.S. and Canada. They sell products from thousands of talented artisans all over the world. They helped found Fair Trade Association (IFAT) and are a member of Fair Trade Federation (FTF). If you’ve been never there, they have a beautiful display of handmade products from artisans of various cultures. It’s almost like stepping into a different country with all the colorful unique handicrafts to choose from. There’s something there for just about everyone and it’s a great place to find a one of a kind earth friendly gift for that hard to buy for person. You get a unique beautiful treasure while knowing you contributed to help fight poverty and gave individuals the dignity they deserve.

Ways Ten Thousand Villages support fair trade:

They pay people a fair price for their work regardless of their sex. Equal pay for equal work is endorsed.

They support safe working conditions and ensure that no one including children is being abused or underpaid and that their rights are protected.

A strong environmental standard is adhered to and only responsible methods of production are used to create products.

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) works with Ten Thousand Villages and they also volunteer to help people from poverty, oppression and disasters. MCC runs a number of thrift shops that sell clothing, furniture and other items such as fair trade coffee. They sell their coffee in collaboration with Equal Exchange, who buys the coffee from small farmers at fair prices. Small coffee farmers often struggle in poverty but since MCC started this coffee project some farmers have now been able to get ahead. Volunteers who work at the thrift store also donate their talents by creating “thrifty to nifty” items such as blankets, quilts, pencil cases, purses and more out of clothing that was too damaged to sell.

Reference: MCC (mcc.org, 2007)

Ten Thousand Villages

The copyright of the article Support Fair Trade in Anti-Poverty Activism is owned by Sandra Williams. Permission to republish Support Fair Trade in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Comments

Apr 18, 2007 3:03 PM

Tyson Yunkaporta :

fair trade products and companies are like a flea on an elephant's back. the huge corporations like monsanto barely give them a second thought. and they've got the world bank there to back them too - so much indigenous land being stolen and raped all over the world - pipelines, agribusiness, logging, development. monocultures of gm soy are replacing diverse biological communities essential for future survival.

these big corporations can do things like lobby governments to subsidise american rice while "freeing up" trade with an african country, creating unfair competition and thereby destroying the country's economy. then they can swoop in and take everything. they can even take the water, and sell it back to the people who own it. this is called "freedom".

but this western "freedom" is really only freedom of the wealthy few to own the majority of wealth and resources and have no limits on how many lives they control. this is the meaning of "liberal". what an irony. this neo-liberalism is the greatest threat to the planet's survival yet.

as indigenous people, we are threatened more by this neo-liberalism than by the previous waves of colonists. free trade is good for raising awareness and making a point, but really it is so incredibly tiny compared to what it is up against.

Apr 18, 2007 5:39 PM

Sandra Williams :

Very well said Tyson. It's better to do a little than nothing though.

Apr 20, 2007 12:05 AM

Tyson Yunkaporta :

true. and the best little thing to do is spread awareness. that's the only thing that can change things in the long run. that's what you're doing here with this site.

i suppose that's what makes the fair trading so effective - it may not change things directly, but it spreads awareness and offers alternatives.

3 Comments