Fairly traded coffee from Cafedirect. Image: www.cafedirect.co.uk
'Tesco's apparently went back to the Fairtrade Foundation and said that liberal vicars wanted Fairtrade produce and maybe they should sell it.'

Charlotte Haines Lyon the relationship between fairly traded goods and the battle for trade justice.

It doesn't seem ten years ago that I started buying Fairtrade coffee from a muted stall at the back of my church. I have to admit I didn't drink coffee myself and battled with my housemates who accused me of buying powdered ditch water.

The next couple of years saw a gradual increase of products on the stall, dodgy toilet roll, sugar and eventually dried fruit. At one point we were encouraged to stop buying coffee from Traidcraft but to demand supermarkets stocked it instead.

Supermarkets were rather slow to take up the challenge. Allegedly Tesco's told the Fairtrade Foundation they weren't going to bow to the demands of a few liberal vicars. Strangely, after the 1996 Christian Aid receipts campaign, things shifted.

Numerous Christians all over the country took their receipts to their supermarkets to show the strength of their consumer power. Tesco's apparently went back to the Fairtrade Foundation and said that liberal vicars wanted Fairtrade produce and maybe they should sell it.

How things have changed. In a space of a decade or so, we have moved from a few products at the back of the church hall, to a plethora of excellent goods being sold in all the major supermarkets.

Barbara Crowther of the Fairtrade Foundation reports that different chains have been vying to be the first supermarket to stock a new product. Fairtrade avocados have been the latest prize to be claimed by Waitrose.

Success

The last decade has proved that not only is Fairtrade an unmitigated success but that campaigning really is worth it. Who would have thought that little ol' me and you buying jars of coffee at church would have started a revolution?

In case you are cynical about such claims here are some facts. Fairtrade sales have increased by 91% over the last 2 years to a total of £92 million in retail sales. We eat 0.3 million Fairtrade bananas a day in the UK alone.

Café Direct now forms 18% of the UK coffee market. Even Nestle are sitting up and taking notice of that. However the most extraordinary aspect of this, is that Café Direct have used very little advertising to achieve this large market share. The word of mouth spread largely within churches is equivalent to 100 TV advertising campaigns!

As a result of the success of Fairtrade 800,000 farmers in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia have benefited. They are now able to lead productive, dignified and healthy lives.

Not that I am saying only Christians buy Fairtrade, but we can pat our backs for our role in this success. There are now 175 towns and cities in the UK who have Fairtrade status.

Churches form a strong part of this initiative and there are also numerous Fairtrade Dioceses and churches in many of the large denominations. Indeed Fairtrade certificates have been sent to 350 churches since March.

Prominent

This is fantastic news for those of us who want a fairer world but it is only half the story. The issue of Trade Justice is becoming ever more prominent. It is all well and good that we are willing to pay a fair price for our goods, but often the problem lies with unfair subsidies and tariffs placed by the EU and the US.

Let's take sugar for example. The EU currently subsidises its sugar production to the tune of 1.25 billion euros a year. British sugar production costs three times the amount of that in Malawi, Brazil and other such countries but is able to be cheaper due to the subsidies.

We are able to dump sugar around the world on to the markets at less than a third of our production cost.

This means that in Malawi it is cheaper for people to buy British or European sugar than their own. This is obviously detrimental to their own domestic producers.

On top of the subsidy problems, some countries who do not have preferential treatment under the Cotonou agreement, find they are charged tariffs when exporting sugar to us.

How come the rich countries can sell subsidised sugar and demand to pay no tariffs to the poor countries yet the poorer countries' are so badly penalised?

Fight

Disturbing stuff, but all is not lost. As we have learnt through the last decade of Fairtrade and also from the Jubilee Debt Campaign, it is possible to fight for change. Next year provides our greatest opportunity ever to demand justice.

2005 is the year that sees the UK chairing the G8, followed by our presidency of the EU. Gordon Brown and Tony Blair have already said that eradication of poverty will be the lead issue.

Not only are there these two chances for change but it is the 10th Red Nose Day and the 20th Anniversary of Live Aid.

Both events are expected to have a far more political edge than before, recognising that justice is essential and aid is not the only answer.

It has been rumoured that Red Nose Day will even have an hour where donations will be halted and political actions will be asked for instead. Richard Curtis has suggested that people might link up to the Trade Justice and Debt campaigns during this time.

If that was not enough, in September there is a UN conference that will be reviewing the Millenium Development goals which include tackling poverty.

So what a fantastic year to get our message across and to ask politicians to do what is right.

Christian Aid of course is not sitting pretty and are gearing up already for 2005. On 26th September this year you can Vote for Trade Justice on Brighton Beach outside the Labour Party conference.

This will be our chance to show politicians that we mean business and that fighting for justice might even be a vote winner.

We have seen that we can make a difference in the world just by tentative purchases of coffee. The time is most definitely ripe for making our politicians listen and act.

For more information see:

http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/campaign/index.htm
http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/index.htm
http://www.tradejusticemovement.org

• Does campaigning work? index
• No and yes
• The cost of radicalism
• The fight goes on