Fair Trade in Mexico
It’s not easy to find "fair trade" items in Mexico. Last week, however, that all changed a little. We went to a nearby grocery store and found this amazing selection of organic products…and that’s when I noticed the little "fair trade" sticker on the coffee can.
Fair trade! Yeah! My wife and I immediatly picked up the coffee. If anyone reads this blog inside of Mexico, I’d like to encourage you to check out the site (www.comerciojusto.com.mx — contents in spanish!) and see how you can support this important project.
You know, many people - and I’ll go ahead and include myself here sometimes, often feel like attacking poverty is something out of reach sometimes. We think: "What can I possibly do to help bring an end to it?"
Well, we don’t have to make it complicated. Maybe we can’t destroy poverty in Africa, or Mexico, or wherever you may find it, with one quick stroke or donation. Powerlessness is just a state of mind. The truth is that there are many ways we, the little people, can make a difference. Perhaps it will be one person, one life at a time, but little by little, we would be making that difference.
I was really excited that Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize. His work with the Grameen Bank in India is quite inspiring. This guy was normal. He just decided to act. I was reading an article about him today, and I found some really cool quotes that I wanted to pass along to you:
"You cannot go on having absurd amounts of wealth when other people have problems of survival," he said. "If you can bring an end to poverty, at least from an economic point of view, you can have a more livable situation between very rich people and very poor people, very rich countries and very poor countries. That’s our basic ingredient for peace."
Micro-Credit Pioneer Wins Peace Prize - washingtonpost.com
…and this quote from the Nobel Prize committee:"Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty," the Norwegian Nobel Committee
Micro-Credit Pioneer Wins Peace Prize - washingtonpost.com
Poverty and peace go hand in hand. So want to find a practical way to help another human being break out of poverty? Buy fairly traded products. If you’re in Mexico, you now have a place to start. If you don’t live in Mexico, and you’d like to explore the idea more, why not get curious here: Fair Trade on Google.You might not destroy poverty across the world, but you CAN make a difference in someone else’s life. Think about it.
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glad to hear there is some evidence of this in Mexico. My apologies on behalf of our country for ripping off Mexico and other Latin American countries in the name of ‘free trade’
there is a massive difference between ‘free trade’ and ‘fair trade’
one of them is a ripoff, the other is trying to balance the scales a bit more…
cheers!
Comment by James Matthew — October 15, 2006 @ 4:05 pm
Hey James,
Thanks for your comment. Totally agree with you around the Free vs. Fair trade bit. Totally not related! I wonder what it would take for countries to scrap free trade agreements in favor of fair trade agreements. Will it ever become reality?
Comment by Aaron Nelson — October 16, 2006 @ 5:29 am
There seems to be some confusion over the meaning of “free trade”. Free trade means reducing any and all barriers that may exist in other countries to hinder the free flow of goods from the rich producing countries and the free flow of capital back to the rich countries. It’s also called “levelling the playing field”.
Comment by Marco Polo — October 16, 2006 @ 9:47 am
Hi Marco Polo,
The “leveling of playing feilds” I think mainly exists on paper. In reality, only the big, super producers can actually survive. At least between Canada, US, and Mexico, if you’re not part of a huge trade union of some sort, you will be stamped out by free trade.
My brother and I, the guy who posted comments on this post too, grew up on a small dairy farm in Nova Scotia. When free trade came in, we suddenly found ourselves being squished out of exisitance by the larger “super farms” that were being developed in order to compete with US dairy farms.
I think, and I’m no expert on Free Trade, but I think it just helps the rich guys get richer, and largely oppresses the poor who DESPERATLY need the chance at FAIR trade.
Fair trade is paying prices that are just for products…a system that helps the poor people. Free trade, I think, encourages price slashing and bulk production in order for there to be any real profit for the producer. Most poor folk simply can’t compete on that level.
Comment by Aaron Nelson — October 16, 2006 @ 5:15 pm