I was at Portsmouth College today, helping to run a Traidcraft Stall. Not a bad thing to do on the day that Tesco Supermarket announces that it has made a billion pounds of profit in the first six months of the year. I wonder how much of that profit was made by paying producers a fair wage (plus of course the bonus that Traidcraft pays to its producers to build schools, health clinics, wells and the like)?
I was startled by how many students at the college didn't know what the principle of Fair Trade is all about. What are they being taught in schools these days? One student thought it meant the customer (i.e. him) paying a fair price...and he thought our prices were too high to be called 'fair' - ("especially compared to Tesco", he said). (Reminds me of that Waitrose slogan..."Quality Food, Honestly Priced") Another student was convinced that there must be a con involved somewhere...and flatly refused to believe that Jenny (who set up the stall) Ephod and I (who were helping) were doing it as volunteers! (Mind you, I approve of his cynicism in general...!)
We - that is everyone who does know about Fair Trade - obviously need to work harder at banging home the message!
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