You may have been aware of something called "Fair Trade fortnight" taking place during the first two weeks of March. You may have seen our graphic illustration of unfairness in the tug-of-war staged recently in the morning service! Just what is "Fair Trade" and what has it got to do with us as Christians?
According to the "law" of supply and demand, if something is plentiful, it's cheap; if it becomes scarce then the price rises. There's no denying that these are real pressures, and the problems which arose in the tightly controlled economies of the former communist countries are still relatively recent memories.
The trouble is that the free market can be particularly brutal to those at the bottom of the pile. For example, the global price of tea has dropped by nearly a half in real terms since the 1970s. Between 1994 and 2002 the price of a pound of robusta beans (used chiefly in instant coffee) fell from around 180 cents to just 17 cents 1. Economies based around these raw commodities simply cannot switch production overnight to something else in response to a fall in demand.
In addition, sometimes trade is not so free, in ways which seriously disadvantage the poorer countries. A real example illustrates the human cost of the bald statistics: Philippe works in a rice mill in Haiti. The mill was built so that poor farmers could process their rice and sell it at local markets. However, while rich countries continue to subsidise their rice exports, Haiti has been forced to reduce significantly protection for its farmers. This means Haiti has been flooded with cheap rice imports, and it is becoming harder and harder for Philippe to find a market for his crops. With little alternative work, Haitian farmers like Philippe and their families face a desperate situation.2
A lot! Time and again the laws given to the people of Israel insist on the utmost fairness when people do business. Dishonest practices, false weights and ill-treatment of workers are condemned in the strongest terms. The message is reinforced by the prophets. gives a catalogue of such practices and promises that the Lord will not forget.3 A few more examples which speak for themselves:
A poor man's field may produce abundant food, but injustice sweeps it away. ()
For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. ()
Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. ()
The issues are very complex, but we are not alone! Organisations like the Trade Justice Movement (TJM) 2 have been set up to research, to explain and to lobby, and there are lots of things we can do to support such campaigns. Tearfund,4 itself a member of the TJM coalition, has promoted the "Lift the Label" campaign urging people to "shop noisily" - not to boycott, but to ask awkward questions about the origin of the goods they buy in the High Street.
"Market forces" are not something alien and unalterable, they are the net effect of thousands of individual economic decisions. It is usually assumed that all these decisions are based on unadulterated self-interest. While this is sadly true in most cases, it doesn't have to be that way.
If when shopping, instead of buying the cheapest, the tastiest or the trendiest, we also take into consideration the needs of the producers, we can play our part in "bucking the market". If you buy goods bearing the Fair Trade Mark (right)1, you know that the producer is guaranteed a fair price and that a proportion of the price goes to benefit the broader community of the producer. You can nowadays find an ever-increasing range of these goods in most supermarkets, a testament to consumer pressure, because supermarkets don't stock product lines out of charity.
Alternatively you can buy goods through organisations such as Tearcraft5 and Traidcraft6. Tearcraft concentrates primarily on hand-crafted goods from producer groups which are always Christian-led. Traidcraft offers both crafts and a wider range of food products.
It really goes without saying. Our world leaders, multinational corporations and small-scale employers, workers and campaigners all need our prayers. Don't forget that the Lord understands all the issues even if we don't, and what's more he understands us!