Newspaper Articles

By Vince Caruana

The basic principles of social justice advocate that the millions of people in developing countries who are marginalised, excluded and alienated need be brought back into the mainstream of active citizens.

Every single person is entitled to the basics of food, shelter and other necessities and more. However it is not enough just for people to survive, but rather to flourish and feel and that they are flourishing. Where unjust inequalities exist, they should be reduced and thereafter eliminated. One tool to do so is improved market access for poor people. However rich countries often take a view that goes against the basic principles of social justice.

By Vince Caruana

A woman holds a candle as she participates in a celebration of the collapse of talks at the Cancun World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting on Sunday.

European non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) working closely with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from the south know that the conventional wisdom that liberalisation will lead to growth, which will in turn lead to poverty reduction, does not go unchallenged by poor nations. In fact these NGDOs often report that for consumers in developing countries, price stability is as important as the cost of goods, and consumers expect their governments to set up storage systems so that prices remain more stable throughout the year.

By Vince Caruana, Fair Trade Cooperative

While the USA puts enormous pressure on weak countries to open their markets to American goods, threatening to reduce aid and support if they don't, it pumps in equally enormous subsidies to American industries. This policy is in part responsible for keeping many millions of Africans below the poverty line.

Cotton is a case in point - farmers in the USA now receive 70 cents per pound of cotton as direct subsidies. This amounts to a lot more than the amount paid by the US government as overseas aid to the whole of Africa.