 Global Marketplace puts accent on 'justice' through 'fair trade' By Craig M. Kibler The Layman Online Monday, June 28, 2004
Various free trade projects that seek "justice" for poor people in a globalized world take up a large section of the Exhibit Hall in the Richmond Convention Center. Some of those projects include SERRV International, which seeks to promote "social and economic development through alternative trade," and the Presbyterian Coffee Project. Brochures and materials about these and other activities emphasize that participating in them helps poor farmers and others in the Third World by "supporting fair trade;" supports environmental justice by reducing "the impact of energy use on the natural environment;" and buying a T-shirt helps support economic justice by offering factory workers "fair wages, benefits and treatment" instead of "working in a sweatshop." Much of this was on display in the Global Marketplace, which offers for sale arts, food, crafts and other items from around the world that was produced as part of a campaign for "economic justice" under "fair trade practices." The Global Marketplace is a project of Enough for Everyone, a partnership ministry of five General Assembly Council agencies: the Presbyterian Hunger Program, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, the Social Justice Program Area, the Women's Ministries Program Area and Presbyterian Women. Enough for Everyone says that, at its heart, is "a deep concern for global economic justice." In the past, organizers have said that people who purchase items in the Global Marketplace know "where every item comes from and can be confident that the producers have been paid fairly: 'Your purchases affect people all over the world in a positive way.'" In "A Mission-Minded Church" (What Presbyterians Believe, April 1997), Gwen Crawley, interim director of the Worldwide Ministries Division, wrote: "As mission work bore fruit and sister churches were established, we learned that mission does not depend on us alone, and in fact these younger Christians [in other countries] are often better at reaching people in their own culture and finding ways to resolve disputes and problems, using methods familiar to the people. "In serving the poor and working for justice we found that we had to get involved in issues that required changes in the status quo, sometimes in our own systems." |
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