How is Fair Trade USA articulating fair trade in the campaign Fair Trade for All?
To see how Fair Trade USA understands the concept af fair trade in their campaign "Fair Trade For All", we have taken a closer look on their press material on the campaign. This totals in 30,497 characters from their own website. This can be visualised in a word cloud like the one to the right.
Apart from Fair Trade and coffee, what the controversy is about, the most articulated words in Fair Trade USA's material about are:
Apart from Fair Trade and coffee, what the controversy is about, the most articulated words in Fair Trade USA's material about are:
- Workers
- Impact
- Farm and farmers
- Pilot
- Cooperatives
How is Equal Exchange articulating fair trade in their critique of the campaign?
If we look at the article material through which Equal Exchange relate to the the "Fair Trade for All" campaign, different words are expressed. The article material consists of eight articles (five from Equal Exchange's own website or blog, three articles linked to from Equal Exchange) totalling in 50,696 characters. This is visualised in the word cloud to the right.
Highly articulated words include:
Highly articulated words include:
- Small
- Plantations
- Farmers
- Movement
- Farmer(s)
Discussion of words and differences
Notable differences in the maps include:
The notion of plantations The fact is that "plantations" is a highly used word by Equal Exchange in their critique of the Fair Trade USA campaign and not a term used by Fair Trade USA. Instead Fair Trade USA is using the word "farms" for describing large coffee production sites. Equal Exchange adds a expertise oriented elaboration to their argument by referring to anthropologist Sarah Besky. She states that the term farms and farm workers are misleading hence, according to Besky, their basic facilities in their lives such as houses, schools and access to clean water is not owned by themselves but only granted through their status as hired labour at the plantation. Thus, Besky argues that you can't use the term "workers", because it's really about people who are tied to a geographical location, the plantation, if they want access to these things. Small farmers first After the words "fair" and "trade", "small" is the most frequently used word in Equal Exchanges critique of the "Fair Trade for All" campaign. This underlines the notion, also seen in Rink Dickinson's quote to the right, that, according to Equal Exchange, fair trade is about supporting small farmers. Impact vs movement We also note that the idea of fair trade being a "movement" is heavily expressed by Equal Exchange, which can be seen in their promotion and support of Organic Consumer Association's campaign "Fair Trade is a Movement, not a Brand". This campaigns notion of a movement heavily relies on the idea that only small farmers can be certified as fair trade, and that Fair Trade USA, given their "Fair Trade for All Campaign", should resign from using the term "fair trade" in their name. On the other hand, as the Paul Rice quote indicates, Fair Trade USA is more focussed on seeking the limits of the impact of fair trade. In their eyes, the inclusion of farm workers is about helping the poorest people of farm working and thus making as big an impact as possible out of the trading concept of fair trade. |
Fair Trade USA on including large scale coffee production sites in the fair trade certification system:
"I'm kind of amazed that there are those in the fair trade movement that are so rigid and fanatical in their interpretation of what is fair trade and what is not allowed to be called fair trade (...) If farmers and farm workers are demanding help, and looking to fair trade for help, if the industry is saying, we want to do more, let us do more, why would you want to keep it small" - Paul Rice, president, Fair Trade USA Equal Exchange on the inclusion initiative made by Fair Trade USA "Fair trade is the idea that the small farmer gets a direct connection to the U.S. consumer or the European consumer (...) The consumer knows their dollar is going to the small guy who needs a chance, he needs better access. And it's a way that people in their everyday lives can support farmers directly and make the world better. [Including large scale plantations as certifiable by the fair trade movement] is another form of socially responsible business. Which is great. People should do that. It just has nothing to do with fair trade." Rink Dickinson, co-founder, Equal Exchange |