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Fair Trade

Simeon Mitchell gets all puritan and then argues that to shop is to pray

Being a Christian isn’t always easy. In fact, much of the time, it seems that that’s the point. As if dragging yourself out of bed on sleepy Sunday mornings for a hard bench in a draughty building isn’t enough, we’re told that in every aspect of our lives we should strive towards more Christ-like actions. A tall order. Concern for justice and peace is not exactly something that can be achieved simply with the help of a tick-list and a little common sense.

However, I’d like to share with you an easy way in which we can make a little difference in the right direction, without making much effort at all, for once. It’s called fair trade. A novel system where producers of goods for European consumers in the poor nations or the world, like coffee-growers, are paid fair prices for what they produce. And we pay just a few pence more for fairly-traded everyday shopping items. Sounds sound to me … but cynics amongst you may need more convincing (and obviously do, since sales of fairly traded goods, although increasing, remain pitifully low as a percentage of the total market). So I offer you a few reasons why I believe that it is our duty to support fair trade … sorry if this sounds a little puritan, but I never did like theatres.

Adrian Rennie, writing in the Iona Community’s Coracle magazine, puts the case for Christian involvement in fair trade well: “Put your money where your mouth is! George Macleod said that there was little point in just praying that someone who was ill would get better if we don’t do something about the damp house which has made them ill in the first place. In a similar vein, there can be little point praying for justice and peace if we do nothing about it where it really counts: through our purchasing power. If we continue to buy goods which have been made by companies whose hidden byword is exploitation, then we really are praying pretty hollow prayers.”

It is the poorest people in the world, the very folk that Christ came to work alongside, who are suffering most at the hands of unfair trade. There are more references in the Bible to responding to the poor than about prayer, atonement, or Jesus’ resurrection (or apparently anyway … yes, even puritans find better things to do with their time than count them!). So surely a system which enables those people to help themselves deserves our support? So, with apologies to Augustine, it seems that, if fairly trading, to shop is to pray! Not convinced by the reasoning of a dabbler in Christian ethics? How about the economic arguments for fair trade … Atheists are welcome aboard this venture too! Without being simplistic about the whole thing, the main problem for producers in the poorer world is that, as Pope Paul VI said, “the international trading system was devised by the rich to suit their needs; it ignores those of the poor.” Centuries of Western exploitation, whether it be by colonialism, multinational companies, or the World Bank and IMF, have left Southern countries in a poverty trap. And the rich, being rich, are the only group with the power to change things. But they also have most to lose. So, in general, they don’t. The typical response when faced with such enormous structural inequalities is a feeling of powerlessness. Perhaps we might ease our guilt by giving to a charity like Christian Aid. A worthy action, which I wouldn’t wish you to stop doing (especially since I’m joint co-ordinator of Christian Aid Week!). Yet few people realise that for every pound given in aid, two pounds is claimed back by Western institutions in debt repayments. But, through fair trade, we can make a difference. As consumers in a Western world, we wield far more power in the two of three hours a week we spend shopping, than we ever will in our 30-seconds in the polling booth every few years. For every pound given to the poorer world in aid, and every two pounds reclaimed in debt, six pounds is lost in unfair trade. By trading fairly with Southern producers, we give them money to pay for the development of their livelihood, the means to support themselves without depending on charity.

I hope by now your smitten by the idea, and are just raring to go out and trade fairly … yes? Here’s how: Supermarket products: Look out for the Fair Trade Mark (guarantees fairly-traded products) on Cafédirect coffee, Percol coffee, Clipper teas, and Mayagold chocolate. Shops: In York, Oxfam, Fairer World (84 Gillygate), Shared Earth, And Albert, the Spurriergate Centre, and the SU shop, all stock fairly traded items. Mail order: Traidcraft, Kingsway, Gateshead, NE11 0NE. Also, lobby your local supermarket to stock fairly traded goods. Simply write it in their suggestions book.

And so on. It may smack of ethical puritanism, but at least it’s actually making a difference. Which can be more than can be said for many a cold church on a Sunday morning. So next time, stay home and drink Cafédirect … or better still, go to worship with a jar of the stuff and share it. It might warm a few others into action too.

Simeon Mitchell

Last modified: 25th November 2005