The Issue of Fair Trade
by one of our team
Gone are the days when you would swap a sheaf of wheat with your neighbour
for a chicken.
These days, trade - the buying and selling of goods or services
- is the $multi-million playground of international commerce.
Traditionally, trade has been controlled by restrictions,
such as taxes, quotas and bans, aimed at protecting domestic markets.
Modern economists have argued that protectionism blocks international
trade and over the past 50 years many countries have opened their markets
to foreign trade and investment.
The theory is that, as business booms, national income increases
and everyone benefits. But what has transpired is free trade, not fair, the
main winners being rich countries, large companies and the already wealthy.
Trade liberalisation encourages rich countries to consume
more and poor countries to export more, often destroying irreplaceable natural
resources. Over-fishing means half of the worlds ocean fisheries are near
depletion, while 56 million hectares of global forest disappeared during the
last decade alone.
The worlds largest companies are increasingly able to relocate
their factories to countries with cheaper labour and fewer anti-pollution
laws, while smaller businesses and farms simply cant compete and are going
to the wall.
Shockingly, 1.3 billion people currently survive on less
than one dollar a day, while basic needs in many poorer countries, such as
education and healthcare, are still not being met.
Trade is governed by a set of rules overseen by the World
Trade Organisation, comprising 130-plus of the worlds largest Governments.
A number of Governments had planned to use the WTOs 1999
meeting in Seattle to launch a new round of trade liberalisation covering
many new areas, including foreign investment and Government procurement. However,
because of unprecedented public opposition, the negotiations collapsed.
Fair trade campaigners are calling for strong and binding
rules governing the activities of corporations. They want the World Trade
Organisation to be more democratic and transparent, embracing people currently
excluded from the global economy, such as women, children and indigenous people.
They want food and water excluded from trade rules, and the
WTOs power to override laws designed to protect local communities and the
enviroment removed.
As Druids, we can participate in fair trade by keeping ourselves
well-informed. Pressure groups such as Friends of the Earth (http://www.foe.co.uk),
Christian Aid and CAFOD: Catholic Fund for Overseas Development, have on-going
peaceful campaigns aimed at fair trade.
We can reduce the impact of consumption on the Third World,
by buying locally produced and organic produce, fair trade products and increasing
our efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Finally, we can write to our MP demanding a full and independent
assessment of the trade system, or ask our local supermarket to increase its
range of fair trade products.
Free trade is now seen as a runaway train, with dire consequences
for the planet and her people. It topped $7 trillion in 1998, a far cry from
a sheaf of wheat and a chicken!
Fair Trade's website is at : http://www.fairtrade.org.uk
Find your MP (and email) at : http://www.locata.co.uk/commons
