Let's begin with a short introduction on FairTrade:
"Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices (which must never fall lower than the market price), Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives."
FairTrade.Org.UK
I would like to encourage the reader to get involved in this campaign and "join the BIG noise". Many thousands of tons of food are being dumped into the sea every year while millions and millions of people are starving. When we read "millions" we just see it as another word for "many", but we are actually not trying to imagine the suffering each individual of those millions goes through. Do you still remember the surgery of the Iranian twins here in Singapore?! Those twins tragically died and people all over the world were mourning and felt really sad. But what about those many millions starving children?? Who reports about them? Who even wants to read about them? And guess what? WE are actually the nations causing most of the suffering by for example dumping our left over food on their markets after pressurizing them to open them up! The damn media is controlling our mind, controlling what we think of and what we talk about in our lunch breaks! We are not some media marrionettes! This situation really frustrates me and it's about time that people start to think more independently & don't just suck up whatever the media tells them. The world is much bigger and we have to try to see things more in perspective. WE are the next generation and it's up to us to take responsiblity and shape a better world for ALL! Buy FAIR TRADE products and make your voices heard! These are actually just two of many ways of how WE and that includes YOU can make a change! Let's start caring, shall we.
CONSUMER POWER! Let's make use of it for a better future!
~peace~
Demand that the WTO ends dumping on poor farmers!
The WTO Conference in Cancun, Mexico, in September has the potential to make trade fair for millions of poor people. Please take action now to stop one of the worst trade practices in the world – dumping.
Rich countries grow more than they can wear, eat or use and create mountains of wheat, rice or even chicken wings that no one wants and then dump the excess in poor countries. Farmers can’t compete with the imports and they are going under.
Supachai Panitchpakdi, the head of the WTO, says he’s serious about making trading fair for poor countries. So he needs to act now to stop dumping. The next month is critical as this is when rich governments agree on the agenda for Cancun. We need your help now. Take action and e-mail Supachai telling him that you want him to act to help poor farmers to Make Trade Fair.
Click here to take action now!
Click here to see how dumping affects real people
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US dumping of subsidised rice on Haiti has had devastating effects on local rice producers, and gone hand in hand with rising child malnutrition
"Rice producers want a better life. We work hard for it. But when we get to market we are bombarded with an invasion of cheap imported rice, so we have to sell at any price that a buyer is prepared to give us. How can we compete against the big guys?"
- Inodil Fils, rice farmer, Artibonite Valley, Haiti
At the start of the 1980s, Haiti produced almost all of its own rice. But pressure from the international community - from the USA in particular - forced Haiti to open up its markets to foreign imports. As a result, Haiti has been flooded by cheap, subsidised rice from the USA. This has driven down the price of local rice, with appalling consequences for the people - one-fifth of Haiti's population - who rely on rice production for a living.
Some rice farmers have had to leave their land in search of work in neighbouring Dominican Republic. Many have had to take their children out of school because they can't pay the fees. And people are going hungry. As their incomes shrink, rice growers are unable to buy the foods that would give them and their families a well-balanced diet. Fifty per cent of chilren in Haiti are malnourished, with the highest rate in the rice-growing areas.
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere.
The USA is the richest country in the world.
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Source: Make Trade Fair
