Relationship Levels With Fair Trade
Connie De Jong, leader of our in-country travel group and classroom professor, told us that the journey to understand Fair Trade can be best described as a relationship more than anything else. One must build their Fair Trade knowledge to truly understand the complexities and implications of the network and movement. After tracking the tumblr tag, “fair trade,” for about a month now, I can’t find her comment to be any more true.
Typical tumblr posts start out as something like this, “I found out that most chocolate bars are made in horrible enslavement conditions, from now on I will only buy Fair Trade.” You can replace chocolate bars with almost any commodity and that’s about 1/3 of Fair Trade tagged posts; newfound enlightenment and a consumer commitment to change. Other types of posts I encounter are those focused on basic reasons to buy and support Fair Trade products, listing points and facts that are generally repeated on most pro-Fair Trade resources. Some of the these posts are well written and adequately researched while others are engaging blurbs yet all are a call for consumer action in the realm of social justice.
I myself have experienced the manifestation of her comment through my own journey for ultimate Fair Trade comprehension. What was initiated from documentaries and social media exposure lead to an interest in academic studies and eventual in-country, on-site experiences. It all relates back to De Jong’s common classroom saying, a clear and simple explanation for people’s ability to practice Fair Trade. This understanding serves as a guidance and brings peace in my desires as an aspiring catalyst of change in the Fair Trade movement.
