What Is Fairtrade?
To understand Fairtrade it is important to keep in mind the distinction between charity and justice. Buying Fairtrade goods is not about making a donation to charity. It's about entering into a proper relationship with those who supply us with the food and craft-goods we use, allowing the producers to receive a fair wage for their work rather than paying them as little as we can get away with, as so often happens in the High Street.
In practice Fairtrade means that small-scale producers receive a guaranteed payment for the products which is fixed above the "market rate". A proportion of the "premium" that they receive is re-invested in the local community, producing benefits such as improved schooling, health and sanitation. How to spend this premium is decided collectively by the producers themselves but what may seem like insignificant amounts of money to us can have dramatic effects in the Third World communities affected.
Avoid Imitations!
Genuine Fairtrade products should have the Fairtrade symbol (the silhouette of a person with one arm raised in a circle on a dark background next to the text, "Guarantees a better deal for Third World Producers" - see illustration right). As a response to the success of Fairtrade some of the big coffee brands in particular have made limited concessions on working conditions and wages, but these generally remain inadequate. In other words, if it doesn't say Fairtrade, it isn't Fairtrade! Fairtrade status is only granted by the trade body, The Fairtrade Foundation, after rigorous checks of both product quality and working conditions. And it's The Fairtrade Foundation which promotes Fairtrade Fortnight every year.
Be Part Of A Success Story
Fairtrade is, as it happens, one of the great success stories of contemporary "consumer-power". Sales of Fairtrade products in the catering trade rose 67% in 2003 and retail sales in general have also seen remarkable levels of growth in the last twelve months. Cafedirect and other Fairtrade brands are able to hold their own on the supermarket shelves against the products of the big multinationals.
Fairtrade and Spirituality
For the Christian, Fairtrade can also be a help to spiritual growth. Choosing Fairtrade products when we shop encourages us to reflect on our own lifestyles and the impact of our consumption on others. As we learn to look for Fairtrade alternatives we also become more conscious of the links which bind us to our poorer brothers and sisters around the world. When we choose Fairtrade we realise the power that we have to influence the future of the world in even the smallest things - our choice of tea-bags, for instance.
If that is true for the individual it is also true for the group - be that group a prayer-group, finance-committee, parish, school or diocese. Acts of solidarity with the poorest become acts of reverence for the Lord, signs of God's Kingdom where the poor and the outcast can at last take their proper place at the Banquet of God's love. Using Fairtrade products allows us to live in some measure of solidarity with the poorest; in other words, to "do justice", as the Old Testament prophets demanded.
Fairtrade in Arundel & Brighton
Arundel and Brighton became a Fairtrade Diocese in June 2005. Forty three parishes have Fairtrade status in their own right and almost as many offer some support. Many also offer support to initiatives to gain and retain Fairtrade status for several towns and Boroughs in Surrey and Sussex.
What Can We Do?
First of all, please let us know any initiatives that you take as a community to work for Trade Justice. These are good news stories and we should share them! (You can write to the Fairtrade Diocese Working Party at the address given below.)
Secondly, take action locally. Your parish or community can get recognition of its commitment to Fairtrade directly from Cafod (www.cafod.org.uk/howtoguides), provided you:
- Use Fairtrade tea and coffee for all meetings for which you have responsibility;
- Increase the use of other Fairtrade products, such as sugar, biscuits, fruit, etc.;
- Promote Fairtrade during Fairtrade Fortnight - and at other opportunities throughout the year.
Practical Steps At Local Level
Why not get a small group together to guide the parish through this process and to plan your involvement in Fairtrade Fortnight? There are plentiful suggestions of things to do on the Fairtrade Foundation website (www.fairtrade.org.uk) and we enclose with this mailing a copy of their Church Action Guide.
This could be a good opportunity to involve particular groups within the parish (e.g. members of the confirmation group) or to link up with what is happening in your local schools.
Consider setting up a Traidcraft agency in the parish (or working ecumenically with other local churches to run a stall). Details can be found on the Traidcraft website (www.traidcraft.co.uk).
Above all, include prayers for the world's poor and for Trade Justice in your Sunday liturgy, your prayer group, your parish newsletter or magazine, your school assembly
Practical Resources and Useful Addresses:
Arundel & Brighton Fairtrade
Diocese Working Party
fairtrade@dabnet.org Diocese of Arundel & Brighton Justice & Peace Office St. John's Seminary,Wonersh, Guildford, Surrey GU5 0QX
01483-894325 Cafod
Romero Close, Stockwell Road, London SW9 9TY
www.cafod.org.uk
020-7733-7900
Fairtrade Foundation
Room 204, 16 Baldwin's Gardens, London EC1N 7RJ
www.fairtrade.org.uk
020-7405-5942
Traidcraft
Kingsway, Gateshead NE11 0NE
www.traidcraft.co.uk
0191-491-0591
