fair trade

An answer for AJE who asked what I said about Fair Trade. That it's a step on the way to making trading between North and South (broadly speaking) more balanced. We did a role play where the buyer from a big multinational company drops the price being offered for something like cocoa or coffee with no warning. One of the youngsters playing the part of a cocoa farmer said "But that's not fair". Exactly right. The children asked about rich people or countries just giving money to poorer people/countries so we had a bit of a discussion about aid and trade and I told them how Bono said recently, "justice not charity". The Yr 6 pupils are going to run a Fair Trade tuck shop, maybe do an Assembly to tell the rest of school about Fair Trade and lobby the staff to get Fair Trade tea and coffee in the staff room. The point was to get them thinking and to see what they could do about it, taking some action. It's citizenship.

I'm really concerned about the animosity generated by problems and opinions about the Rec in Bath. I know that people on all sides of the argument(s!) feel strongly, but litigation rarely helps heal such rifts properly. I'd like to see the discussion have a fresh start from here. Any consultation on ideas for the future uses of the Rec must be truly open and thorough, engaging as wide a variety as possible of residents (including young people).

Comments

[AJE]

Out of interest, which do you think would be the best means to ensure the eleviation of povery in the developing world:

1. Indoctrinating children into buying specific types of chocolate, and making them feeling guilty for playing a role in poverty

2. Removing barriers to trade

As a Labour candidate, I assume you value domestic industry over foreign industry: isn't asking kids to buy the right chocolate, whilst supporting trade and wage legislation that give UK firms an advantage over African farmers unbelievably hypocritical?

[hattie ajderian]

As I said, a step on the way. And the point is not to make kids feel guilty, but to let them know there's a problem with trade and get them thinking about what can be done and whether they can have a voice. As for hypocrisy, you don't know what my views are, you're assuming.

[AJE]

I'm sad to see that you've deleted my comment, having read back through it I thought I presented an articulate and reasoned reply. I apologise if the tone caused offence, but this is an important issue and I do think you have been wrong.

http://thefilter.blogs.com/thefilter/2004/10/hattie_ajderian.html

I hope you will read my thoughts on the issue, and offer a response. If we both have the geniune intention to find solutions to the poverty of the developing world, we'll both benefit from discussing them.