Free trade is the problem. Fair trade is the solution. Currently the world trade is dominated by the ideology of economic globalization. This system of trade is controlled by a handful of transnational corporations operating outside any domestic or international rules except business-friendly trade agreements and this is creating deep and entrenched inequalities in its wake.
The coffee trade is a perfect example of these inequalities. A handful of giant agro-food corporations dominate the trade, amassing all the huge profit and leaving the actual workers underpaid in chemical polluted and impoverished communities. Coffee is bought at the cheapest price and resold at the highest.
Fair trade is the alternative (a saviour if I may use the word) but the consumers and coffee lovers has a big task of building an equitable world trading system where those who toiled to bring us coffee enjoy good and safe working environment, democratic rights and provide for their families and communities.
This could be achieved by the ethical consumer’s choice movement which we can practice in our day-to-day lives, by buying according to our values.
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