Fair Trade Towns are a force for good

Fair Trade Towns are a force for good
by Fr. Shay Cullen
email: [email protected]
(Fr. Shay’s columns are published in The Manila Times,in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line.)

Last November 9, I was invited to Poznan, Poland to address the delegates from 23 countries representing the towns that had been certified and declared to be Fair trade Towns. To be certified with this honour means that it has to be earned by fulfilling certain stringent criteria. Poznan, in Poland is the newest member of this exceptional group of towns. These are towns that are committed to the rule of law, doing justice to all and especially to promote fair Trade products and the principles of Fair Trade.

A town or city like Davao that has an executive that puts a bounty of five million pesos for the head of a suspected carnapper to be delivered to him on ice is not ready for the honour of the title as a Fair Trade Town. That is the most unfair trade imaginable. But in the Philippines, strange things happen. Here is an excerpt from my presentation.

Dear Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very thankful to be present here today to share with you the work of Preda developmental Fair Trade in working with crafts people and small mango farmers. But also I welcome this opportunity to restate the purpose and final goal of Fair Trade as I see it and how this conference on the impact and value of the Fair Trade Town can bring us together in pursuing and strengthening our commitment to achieving this very important and worthwhile purpose.

We can be very grateful to Bruce Crowther from Oxfam in Garstang, Lancashire, England who first thought of the idea in 2001 and promoted it in many other towns until it took a life of its own and has now spread to hundreds of towns throughout the UK and Europe. The first conference of European Fair trade Towns was held at the London Southbank University in 2006. The question is poised, is this a grassroots movement today and can it bring change in the world?

Since fair-trade has grown up because of the initiative of the committed few at the beginning of Fair Trade and who are the pioneers of working for justice for those producers and farmers who are cheated and exploited. These are the champions who work for justice in trade and human rights, they have put aside personal profit and self-seeking and have dedicated themselves to the cause of alleviating the dire poverty and hunger that still haunts our world. They are the grassroots people who made this movement grow and they are a people power for justice and human rights.

One billion are still hungry on this planet of plenty. It just so happens that the wealth is accumulated by the few while the many go without the basic needs of life. The champions of Fair Trade are those who have challenged this inequality that causes much human suffering and death by hunger and disease. They can be given full credit for bringing about Fair Trade and from humble beginnings led the way to the Fair Trade towns.

Many people dedicated to Fair Trade as a means to do justice and eradicate poverty have been to the developing countries and have lived among the grassroots. They returned to Europe and started fair trading and through this practice of justice, solidarity and respect, they promoted the welfare of exploited people. They did it by paying fair prices for products and importing them for sale in the northern countries. They used this as a way to change the injustice in the world by bringing individuals, groups, shop owners and now entire towns into the movement for Fair trade to advance social justice for the oppressed and the exploited people.

The goal of Preda Development Fair Trade is to help people to overcome poverty by their own efforts, by earning just wages and returns for their hard work and improving their communities through team and community self-help development projects. The success of fair trade relies greatly on the quality of the products, the just wages and conditions under which they are made. But equally, it depends on the choice of committed consumers to act in a morally right way and choose to buy the fair trade products rather than the commercially supplied products.

It is fair trading that changes the world of the poor. The Fair Trade towns are the home of the Fair Trade Shops and World shops, organic and other stores that have chosen to sell the products. Many shops donate earnings to development projects in the needy communities of the developing world. This is their greater participation in development fair trade. The Fair Trade Towns movement is a powerful force for change.

 

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