Beyond the Ethical Shop Shelves
On the 4th of December the British Library Conference Centre was full of ethically minded people keen to debate and discuss what lies ahead for ethical shoppers. The day was chaired by Sheila Dillon of Radio 4’s ‘The Food Programme’ and included speakers from the Co-operative Group, the Soil Association, SUSTAIN and Women Working Worldwide. The hot topics of the day included issues of sustainability of our food supplies, food security and the future of fair trade.
Tomy Matthews of the Fair Trade Alliance in Kerala, and recently appointed to the board of the Fairtrade Foundation, was an immediate hit with the audience. He spoke of the need to refresh the focus of fair trade. He reminded everyone that fair trade was about trade justice not just a label on a coffee jar. Looking at the success of the fair trade movement he referred to its campaign roots and said he believed fair trade needed to return to these roots to ensure continued support and growth. Relying on the fair trade logo is not enough to see ensure fair trade becomes a way of life for everyone.
I met a familiar face in the form of Matt Anderson, previously from the Fairtrade London Campaign but now focusing on his personal endeavours in the world of publishing his PhD which looked at issues of fairtrade. I also met a member of the Strathaven Fairtrade Steering Group who was very enthusiastic about Shared Interest and left armed with leaflets, knowledge and contact details to help her spread the word to her group and local area.
The day resounding message to summarise the event actually came at the end of the first set of speeches. Bill Vorley of the International Institute for Environment and Development suggested ‘We must stop doing things FOR Africa and do things WITH Africa’. We cannot expect fair trade to work if it is solely a response to consumer demands. It must be about those we set out to work with, the producers themselves. Behind ethical shopping there must be ethical production.
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I’ve heard several people say this was an interesting conference. I couldn’t attend but I managed to interview some of the speakers before the event.
I’m glad that someone from Shared Interest was there, especially since this was not a fair trade event.
The issues involved in the ethical and sustainable production and distribution of food bring together a very wide range of organisations and individuals. There is a deep-rooted and widespread desire for change. As Monty Don, President of the Soil Association said “Change from a million different viewpoints. Disorganised. Chaotic. All linked by an idea rather than a directive. Self-motivated. Bottom up.”
I think that local food networks, allotments associations, farmers’ markets etc could be surprisingly fertile ground for Shared Interest.