Just News! - August 2010

Table of Contents

EDITORIAL

by Marc Simó Husillos

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time there was a village in a far away land where the people used to buy their food in the local market. Producers in the area used to settle their stands twice a week in the centre of the village where they sold local products that normally were available depending on the season, the weather and the people’s likes.

Prices were reasonable according to the work invested in the fields, with the aim to let the producers live decently from their job and for the buyers that price was enough not to renounce to quality and healthy food.

Production was to be sold locally, but the rest was sold in other places. Thus, other products came to the village and the people had the chance to try things from other cultures and other climates.

People in the village used to buy clothes from a small clothing workshop settled in the area. The dressmaking workers working in the workshop were also costumers at the ironmongery, at the pharmacy, at the bar, at the mechanic and at the other business in the village… People in the village were almost all employed in different businesses in the village itself. They had a hard but a peaceful life. The school was full of children and the village was alive.

Eventually representatives of a foreign cotton company visited the village to purchase land available for the production of the cotton plant. Cotton grew well due to the region’s climate and the managers predicted massive profits. At first they bought land from old farmers offering them a good amount. The high price offered by the cotton companies attracted other people from the village to sell their land too. Local authorities were looking forward for foreign investment and so they provide the company with tax advantages to encourage the company to set up a cotton production line in the village.

High wages were promised to the locals, so all the people gave up their jobs on the fields and started to work for the company. In a matter of months, almost all the people in the village were working in the newly established factory or in the cotton fields producing cotton to be sold in markets thousands of kilometers far away.

Soon, cotton prices in the international market went down. Some people in other countries decided that its price should be lowered to get more profits out of the fashion world. That decision affected the people in the village who immediately faced a reduction of their wages. Eventually the management of the company also wanted to boost its profits so a streamlining exercises in the company was made. The dream of good for jobs and wages soon disappeared.

Unemployment increased in the village. Those who were fired didn’t have much alternative for survival while those who were retained in the factory were forced to work longer working days and bad conditions under the threat of being fired like their colleagues.

Since then, life in the village stopped being peaceful. Locals couldn’t go back to growing different crops in their fields or work at their old businesses, because all the economy in the village now depended on the factory. All the land that previously belonged to the different farmers became the property of the foreign cotton company. All the goods needed for the locals were now imported from other villages or abroad since no one produced anything but cotton. They realized that cotton couldn’t be eaten and all the promises the foreigner men made were false promises. But it was too late to change that, to overcome that slavery and poorness. The only solution was to accept the inhumane conditions in the cotton factory or flee their village.

This story, told in a simple way, has taken place in many villages in developing countries. Unfortunately, throughout the world thousands of towns, villages and communities have experienced a similar pattern. In the name of “progress” many regions all over the Earth are losing their traditional identity and their way of live which was simple yet sustainable.

Luckily, there are many people that are concerned about such unsustainable development. People have found in their daily life ways to defend what they believe in. Fair Trade is one of these ways, improving lives in many countries while giving to millions of people the opportunity to be owners of their own lives.

Don’t let the current system impose the global village over the real one! Welcome to the second issue of this Newsletter!

Good reading.

FAIR TRADE NEWS: Suicides because of inhumane working conditions

Suicides of 10 Foxconn workers uncover the inhuman working conditions

Suicides of 10 Foxconn workers uncover the inhuman working conditions suffering in the IT sector. Since last 27th May, 10 workers between 18 and 24 years old committed suicide in the production instalations of Foxconn Technology Group, and other two people are seriously ill after trying to committed suicide as well.

Foxconn, settled in Shenzhen and property of Taiwan, supplies Apple, Nokia, HP, Dell Sony, Sony Ersicsson, Nintendo and Motorola, brands which are in wild competition and with delivery terms each time shorter, resulting inhuman working conditions.

Foxconn has nearly 20 plants in China and in other countries with 800,000 employees. According to their annual reports , between 2008 and 2009, Foxconn International, a subsidiary of Foxconn Technology Group, engaged 10.000 workers, enlarging the total of 118.000, while its production costs decreased in 28% (USD million 187 less).
Tragedies in Foxconn has shown that the Electronics Industry Citizen Coalition (EICC), formed by more than 40 electronic companies, don’t protect labor rights within the sector. To avoid such situations, the EICC SCR (Social Corporative Responsibility) mechanism needs an urgent and complete reform: increasing transparence, promoting the participation of employees, and improving their purchasing practises and the auditories system.
In view of the suicides, Foxconn Delegate Counselor, Tery Gou stated that: “victims committed suicide because they wanted the company to compensated their families generously”. This statement was considered as an insult to dead people and their families, besides and evasion of responsailities on behalf the company. For this reason some NGOs (within the frame of the project “Procure IT Fair”) as well as chinese and taiwanese civil society organizations has required to investigate the high rate of suicides in Foxconn installations and to reform the company managment, while allowing union democratic elections.

Source

FAIR TRADE NEWS: Nestlé is forced to give a break to rainforests and orangutans

Palm oil is an ingredient widely used within the food and cosmetics sectors. Some companies such as Sinar Mas Group are destroying Indonesian forests in order to extend its oily palm cultivations, affecting negatively the way of life and the livelihood of local populations as well as the survival of the orangutan. The oil provided by this plant is used as an ingredient for many chocolate products such as, Kit Kat. Up till recently!

Thanks to a Greenpeace campaign against the deforestation of the Indonesian rainforests and peatlands for the cultivation of these oily palms Nestlé has been forced to change its policy towards this issue. The new policy commits Nestlé to identify and exclude companies from its supply chain that own or manage 'high risk plantations or farms linked to deforestation'. This would apply to notorious Sinar Mas, a palm oil and paper supplier that Greenpeace has repeatedly caught destroying the rainforest - if it fails to meet Nestlé's new criteria - and also have implications for Cargill, one of Nestlé's palm oil suppliers which purchases from Sinar Mas.
Nestlé's announcement sends a strong message to the palm oil and paper industry that rainforest destruction is not an acceptable practice in today's global marketplace. From the very beginning, the strength of the Greenpeace campaign “Give rainforests and orangutans a break” has been the truly amazing support from the public - online and offline - both concerned consumers and social media-savvy activists alike.
However, Greenpeace states that Nestlé will be closely watched to make sure it sticks to its word and puts them into action fast. Nonetheless investigations will also continue to expose unscrupulous palm oil and paper companies that destroy rainforests and to pressure the Indonesian government to act.
In the meantime, today's new Nestlé “no deforestation footprint” policy is something to celebrate. We hope it will inspire action by other international companies - like Carrefour and Wal-mart - to hear the message that there is no room for forest destruction in the products we buy.

Source

GOOD TO KNOW: Oxfam Education Website

by John Axiak

The Oxfam Education website offers educators and youth leader a range of ideas, tools, resources and good practices for developing the “global dimension” to youth and community groups and in classrooms. The website contains hundreds of the educational resources relating to Global Citizenship – education that helps pupils understand their world and make a positive difference in it. The website caters for pupils of different ages, including 5-7, 7-11, 11-14, 14-16 and 16+ brackets.

By empowering young people to be active Global Citizens they will understand the global issues that affect their lives and take action towards a more just and sustainable world. The website includes various Global Citizenship topics such as Child Labour, Climate change, Conflict, Debt and Development, Equality, Ethical Living, Fair Trade, Global Food Crisis, Gender, HIV & AIDS, Iraq war, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Racism, Trade & Globalization and Water.

ON PRODUCTS: Coffee and its history

Coffee: The Black Gold – a salvation or a curse?!

by Lina Vosyliute

Origin
It is said that coffee was born in the Horn of Africa. There is a legend, that the coffee tree was discovered in Ethiopia, in the province of Kaffa. According to scientists, cultivation of coffee started before the 15th century or even earlier. Soon it became very popular in Arabic world and special coffee drinking houses, called kaveh hanes started to spread. Coffee houses became very important socializing points – for serious political discussions or just sharing the latest neighborhood gossips. The objective of coffee houses hasn’t seemed to change much over the centuries.

Coffee conquering the World
Coffee was first brought to Europe in 1615 by Venetian traders. At the same time the Dutch were a trying to grow coffee trees in the greenhouses in the Netherlands. They became so fond of coffee that decided to cultivate coffee themselves, soon after to realize that it is not efficient way to do so. The Dutch then started to introduce coffee cultivation in their colonies – India and Indonesia. Those were the first biggest suppliers of coffee for all Europe. Culture of Café Houses has spread here as well from Italy to London and consumption of coffee was annually increasing.

By the second half of 17th century coffee had reached North America and it was a huge success, as even today North Americans are known as the world's largest coffee consumers. It is very interesting to know that such structure as a Wall Street, home of New York Stock Exchanges, has developed from a simple café.
The first coffee tree in Latin America was shipped by one French naval officer Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu. He brought this new cash crop to Martinique in 1720 and within 50 years the number of coffee trees in the region reached around 20 millions. But the real coffee invasion in Latin and Central America was led by Dutch and British.

Conventional coffee business
The role of coffee market to the world economy cannot be underestimated. It is a main source of foreign exchange to producing countries and one of the most valuable products in world trade, therefore it is also called a Black Gold in food industry.

Today 5 of the world’s main coffee producers are Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia and México. Here it is worth mentioning introduction of coffee cultivation in Vietnam which was spearheaded by the International Monetary Fund, whose economists decided that Vietnam’s economy should be based on coffee. It was a crucial point to other traditional coffee growing countries in Latin America and Africa, as it has lead to overproduction, lower quality and of course to the steady fall in international coffee market. Vietnam’s booming coffee economy spelled disaster in many other coffee producing regions.

Coffee is a multi-million dollar industry, yet profits never trickle down on the people who work sweat to grow the beans. Only about 5 per cent of the money that coffee generates reaches the poor farmers. This means that for a 200g of coffee in the super market, costing you around 2 euro, the producer will only receive about 10 cents. The lion’s share goes to the shipping companies, the middle men, roasting companies and finally the supermarkets.

It is not surprising that even though coffee generates up to 50% of the foreign exchange earnings for the Least Developed Countries, this leads them nowhere. Burundi, whose economy consists of 80% coffee farming has a very low GDP and is one of the poorest countries in the world.

The coffee industry requires more raw production at lower prices. In many cases they undermine worker’s labor rights and set poor working conditions. Children are often employed to work in the coffee farms to they can help their family meet their needs instead of attending schools.

However, another way is possible – you can choose Fair Trade Coffee. Fair Trade ensures that producers benefit directly from the deal. There is always a basic minimum price which is ensured to producers, even if the international coffee prices go below this minimum standard. Workers may also be represented in unions that fight for a better wage and better working conditions. The Fair Trade label ensures, that no child labor is involved, human rights are respected and equality at the work place is ensured.

Sources:
International Coffee Organization
World Fair Trade Organization

PROPOSALS TO BE FAIRER...with the environment and those around you

by Dorianne Apap

What can you do?

Don’t be lazy, be creative! Do your own stuff with second hand materials, from household goods to clothes and accessories.
Check out this link to learn how to Do Stuff Yourself.
Start your own Kitchen Garden. Herbs and some other vegetables like carrots, potatoes and cabbages are fairly easy to grow. All you need is some dedication(Permaculture)
Repair and mend instead of replacing.
Start bulk-buying if you live in a house with several people. If not get organised and ask to your neighbours to buly-buy with them. It is not only about saving the environment through less transport miles and less packaging, but it is also cheaper! A 20Kg sack of flour not in bulk means 40 plastic bags of flour of 500grams each.

Buy Green, buy Fair, buy Local, buy used but most of all buy less!!

COOKING FAIR TRADE

Amaranth and Pumpkin Patties Recipe
by Dorianne Apap

Amaranth is part of the Amarantacious family, containing more than 500 species, and coming from the Central American region, being a basic food for Amerindian people 3000 years ago.
The amaranth, known in India as ramdana “the good grain” is one of the most ancient grains, similar to the quinoa. It produces spherical and brightening grains closed in beautiful red purple ears which are very nutritious: fiber, proteins and iron, especially scarce in the vegetarian diets.

For instance, in India, where a high rate of children suffer from lack of iron, amaranth leaves is usually included in the diet, since it is much richer in iron than spinaches.

Ingredients Used:

1 bowl of cooked Fair Trade Amaranth*
To cook amaranth, you’ll need 1 ½ cups of water for every ½ cup of amaranth. You’ll also need salt to taste. Using a saucepan, simply combine the water and amaranth and bring to a boil. Add a pinch of salt to taste. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 25 minutes. Cover the saucepan and cook in low heat. Once the water is absorbed, you can turn off the heat and let cool before eating.
1 local onion finely chopped
1 tea spoon Fair Trade oregano*
3 local garlic cloves
1 big bowl of finely chopped locally grown pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon Fair Trade chili powder*
1 egg (ideally free range or at least local)
1 tablespoon local olive oil
Salt, pepper, parsley, lemon zest

The products marked with a * can be purchased from il-Ħanut l-Arka.

Directions

Add 1 tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.
Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally.
Stir in the pumpkin and oregano and cook until soft.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let cool for a couple of minutes.
Combine well the Amaranth, salt, pepper, egg, parsley, lemon zest and chili powder.
Form the mixture into 6 patties.
Bake or fry in a non stick pan until it’s brown and crisp on both sides.

EVS EXPERIENCE WITH KKG

Surrounded by people

by Lina Vosyliute

I am Lina from Lithuania. From February till July this year I have been volunteering with Koperattiva Kummerc Gust (KKG), Malta’s only Fair Trade Organization. Now that I have finished my EVS (European Voluntary Service) and look back I keep smiling, because I truly enjoyed each day spent in Malta.

First of all, it was a two ways learning process – a fair exchange between my hosting organization and me, the volunteer. Through our small shop “L-Arka” I have learnt a lot about Fair Trade, Sustainable Development, the products and the situation of their producers in developing countries. On the other hand: I had a space to realize my skills and knowledge in non-formal education activities.

My EVS project was never monotonic. We participated in all kinds of activities raising global awareness to the locals, such as the WorldFest, flashmobs and street performances, setting up Fair Trade stall in different events and parishes and preparing articles for our “JUST NEWS” newsletter with my other EVS colleagues Laura and Marc.

Moreover, I got involved in activities performed by other Maltese organizations such as Migrants’ Solidarity Movement, Graffiti, ACIS, Centru T’biexbix, Greenhouse, SKOP, etc. In some of these activities I managed to get KKG involved in as well.

Practically, each day I used to meet new people: co-workers from KKG, other EVS in Malta from all over the Europe, l-Arka costumers, some of whom stopped by not only asking about Fair Trade products but also discussing actual local issues. Little by little, I became a part of Maltese reality – listening, debating, protesting, and seeking for change… together with others. I felt surrounded by the best possible people on the rock. For me it was and is the people whom I've met, not the landscapes, climate or architecture, which makes impression over the country… so without hesitations I would recommend making your once lifetime EVS experience with KKG!

INTERVIEW TO RUBENIA GUADALUPE

Rubenia G. Delgado is an advocate of worker’s rights in México. She represents workers in the IT industry and campaigns for human rights within such industry with the Center for Reflection and Action on Labour Rights (CEREAL).
by Laura Granda Mateu

Seldom if ever does it occur to us that working conditions in the electronics industry is just as bad as working conditions in the fields for producers in the developing world. Through an interview with Rubenia Delgado we got an insight of worker’s rights in the IT world.

What are CEREAL’s aims and how does CEREAL reach its objectives?
The main activity at CEREAL is to educate workers about their rights. This means we offer several workshops on labor law and workers' organizational rights. We also have research projects, but the ultimate goal of all our activities is to strengthen the workers by helping them organize themselves into trade unions.

What are the main difficulties that CEREAL faces in this work?
The main obstacles CEREAL faces to develop its work are the unwillingness of companies to implement policies that protect workers and the fear of the workers to demand respect for their rights.

Do you reach out to workers, or do they come to you whenever they feel that there is a situation of injustice or a violation of their rights at their place of work?
Workers now come to us because they already know about us. Before, when they we where just starting our activities we had to go to talk to workers in their homes or at the factory gates. Currently, companies believe that CEREAL has "agents" (spies) within the factories, who are responsible of "disturbing" the workers. Obviously this is not true. CEREAL knows many workers within the factories and has no need to infiltrate spies or recruiting "troublemakers”. Workers simply come to our offices or call us by phone.

Are workers really aware of their unfair and problematic situations?
Workers are not fully aware of the injustices that they are suffering, particularly because they do not know the Mexican labor law, much less about international treaties on employment. They are not aware either of the global problematic which forces companies to pay low wages and violate their labor rights. However, they do realize that something is not right, even though they do not know how to explain what it is. And of course, they want to mobilize and speak out, but usually, they are afraid to do so.

Does Mexican legislation protect workers from inhumane conditions?
Mexican legislation does afford many rights to workers, though authorities do not force companies to respect workers' rights. In many Latin American countries including Mexico, many of the government officials are corrupt and many reports are distorted by government inspectors. Moreover workers have to wait on average three years to assert any right, due to the complicated court procedure. Such a long time waiting discourages workers to go avail themselves to the authorities. Due to this reason CEREAL prefers to engage in direct dialogue with the companies rather than going to Court.

Following CEREAL’s activities, have you witnessed any in changes in workers’ right at the factories?
It must be said that there is a little progress in what concerns companies, especially regarding sexual harassment in the workplace. As to discrimination we have noticed much change. In 2005 up to 90% of workers were victims of some sort of discrimination within their workplace. In 2006 it had fallen by 30%, and in 2009 it was reduced to 25%, this is due to the reforms carried out by companies from the comments that CEREAL has done. These are small achievements, but worthy; it should be noted that other rights are still much violated such as getting a permanent job and enjoying of freedom of association.
In regard to worker’s personal changes, we can say that the CEREAL workshops have helped workers value more themselves and their work. The training helps workers to understand their rights and to identify which of these are daily violated.

In general, do the workers trust CEREAL or do they feel afraid, insecure?
The workers are very confident in CEREAL. That's one of the main achievements of our organization and a major cause of anger of the companies, since workers prefer to go to CEREAL, instead of going to complain to their trade unions at the company/factory. CEREAL is engaged in personal relationships with workers and their families, which allows us to understand better their needs and concerns.

How do workers feel when they find out the price of products they produce are in other countries?
Workers have no idea of the product’s the final cost. Most of them have never had a computer or a Blackberry, or a videogame, and they do not have the latest model of TVs. Of course, they know that they’re receiving a small wage, but they believe they have no alternatives. CEREAL promoters/advocates do know the final cost of electronic equipment and of course we feel indignation that some people get rich from the sale of such equipment while the workers receive a wage that is insufficient for living.

Finally, Rube, do you feel happy (despite the difficulties), satisfied, proud of the work you are doing at CEREAL?
Sometimes I would like to give more and that makes me feel frustrated, but I have to accept my limitations. Sometimes we don’t get the happy ending all we at CEREAL would wish. Occasionally we lose more than that we win… and all that makes me sad. I realize that we are demanding rights that should belong already to those workers, rights of every Human Being. On the other hand, I am happy when I see the faces of the workers when they win a small legal fight… that moment, that day, I would not change it for anything in the world and these are the moments that encourage me to continue this path. I know there is still much to do. And it’s a global fight.

WORLDFEST 2010: A DAY FOR THE WORLD

by Nathalie Grima

Koperattiva Kummerc Gust organized the annual event called World Fest, on Sunday 16th May at the Upper Barrakka Gardens in Valletta. The theme of the World Fest has been linked to the Right to Food campaign (adapted as Kieku L-ikel Jitkellem/If food could speak) both in 2009 and 2010. The continuity of the theme stressed the visibility of the Campaign to the public and enforced the local network established by KKG. Activities such as food tasting, public lectures, workshops with kids, presentations with home economics secondary school teachers, music and theatre play animated the World Fest that lasted for 1 day, with a build up of smaller events taking place in the preceding weeks (e.g. food tasting on university campus, workshops with girl guides, etc). Furthermore, the Fest involved the diaspora communities living in Malta, linking global with local solidarity and mutual recognition.

ANAPQUI (National Association of Quinoa Farmers)

by Laura Granda Mateu

ANAPQUI was created in 1983 in order to maximize the revenue of local communities. This national organization overseas 7 regional cooperatives (COPROQUIR, APROQUIRY, SOPPROQUI, APROQUI, APQUINQUI, CEDEINKU, COPROQUINAC) and regroups about 1,200 producers (socios), of which 800 are organic certified, in the South Altiplano (Altiplano Sur) region. One of the main Anapqui’s products is QUINOA, which is a key product for feeding Aymara and Quechua populations. Production of quinoa represents 20 to 70% of the producer’s revenues, the remaining coming from husbandry (lama and sheep). The organization maintains a strong promotion of its cultivation as a tool for land conservation and promotion for the preservation of cultural traditions of the Aymara people and Quechua.

Thanks to ANAPQUI, quinoa provides an unparalleled economic opportunity for many smallholder farmers in the southern Altiplano of Bolivia who have few other options of living. It has brought relative prosperity to the farmers who sell quinoa to ANAPQUI. Farmers have expanded their farms and some have mechanized their production. The extra income from increased quinoa sales allows children to go to school and farmers to have an unprecedented level of prosperity. The fair price paid to the farmers means that the extra income can be used to increase household food security. Before Anapqui was formed, miserable market conditions forced growers to sell what they did not use at home for below production costs. Bartering with intermediaries, quinoa producers were forced to trade under patently unfair asymmetries.

All these facts are of great importance in BOLIVIA, one of the most remote countries in the western hemisphere. This Andean country has the most self- identified indigenous population, with 60% of its population being of indigenous ancestry; besides, 62.7% of the population (over 8,274,325 inhabitants) lives in conditions of poverty, and 24.4% live in conditions of extreme poverty. Poverty is directly associated with a low level of education and is more common among the indigenous population. In the rural areas, it is estimated that about 95% of the population is poor. They are generally agricultural peasants or orwage-earners who have limited landholdings and who lack access to credit and basic infrastructure. In urban areas, the poor are concentrated in the informal sector, particularly among domestics and non-remunerated family workers.

The ANAPQUI project addresses its challenges by handling logistics, quinoa transformation, and commercialization. In addition, to remedy dramatic market price fluctuation, ANAPQUI has also:

encouraged producers to switch to organic production methods; in the words of a ANAPQUI producer: “we realized that with pesticides, we were really just poisoning
ourselves, so we decided it would be better to do it the way our grandparents have done for millennia, and now it’s written into our communal rules.”
striven to guarantee relatively stable price thanks to the support of Fair Trade- sensitive buyers.

ANAPQUI’s main goal is to improve the living conditions of its member producers by paying a fair price for their quinoa. Increasingly, ANAPQUI is looking towards the relatively small but growing export market.
Good to know about QUINOA: cultivated in the Andes for over 7000 years, it is nutritionally charged and is considered one of the best sources of protein and amino acids by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. In addition, the World Health Organization has rated the quality of protein in quinoa as equivalent to that of milk.
This food is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also an excellent source of calcium. Quinoa is a healthy and nutritious complement that can be substituted for almost any grain in almost any recipe.

Fair Trade Quinoa can be found at il-Ħanut l-Arka!

Sources:
Altromercato
Alter Eco Fair Trade
Pachamama Goes Organic: Bolivia’s Quinoa Farmers
Quinua and rural livelihoods in Bolivia, Perú, Ecuador
“Crop diversity and livelihood security in the Andes: the case of potatoes
and quinoa”, by Sophie Higman, Dr Jon Hellin. 2002.

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Coffee: The Black Gold – a salvation or a curse?!

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