/

Table of Contents

• Editorial: Is Fair Trade Selling Out?
• Producers: Let's talk about chocolate! And some other things...
• Koperattiva Kummerc Gust Updates
• Fair Trade World: Developmental Effects of Child Labour
• Fair Trade World: Can you trust the social or environmental rating given to this company or product?
• Fair Trade World: Fair Trade Africa News
• Win a Free Visit to Fair Trade Producers and Artisans in Morocco
• Documentary Review - Black Gold
• Cooking with Fair Trade - Couscous with Lamb

Is Fair Trade Selling Out?

Fair Trade is a movement that has been gathering momentum over the years: from its humble beginnings as Oxfam's 'helping-by-selling' program in the '60s to today, it has grown into a multi-billion-euro enterprise affecting the lives of millions of people. Fair Trade is acquiring a definitive niche in the public consciousness; even large brands with questionable human rights records are joining the movement: notable examples being Nestlé, which has been allowed to label all its Kitkats in the United Kingdom as Fair Trade, and Starbucks, which has committed itself to using only Fair Trade Certified coffee in its espresso-based drinks in the UK.

However, there are differences in opinion within the Fair Trade movement as to whether these new territorial conquests by the Fair Trade movement are indeed a good thing. What does it mean for Fair Trade to negotiate with these enormous companies, which have mostly arrived at their current position by ruthlessly pursuing profit, often at the expense of their producers? Such an attitude runs, to say the least, a bit against the grain of the Fair Trade movement. But does Fair Trade have to get involved with these companies in order to grow? As Daniel Jaffee puts it somewhat dramatically in his book Brewing Justice, does the Fair Trade movement have to 'dance with the devil'? And if it does dance, can it do so without selling out?

Let's talk about chocolate! And some other things...

No, I’m not referring to talking about what a good antidepressant chocolate is, or how a dark chocolate a day keeps the doctor away, or how chocolate may protect the brain and heart. I’m sure everyone has their justified opinions about these issues. Let’s talk about some facts and take a journey to the Majority World.

The place we’re going to visit is the Costa Rica in Central America. From this country CTM Altromercato (one of l-Arka’s suppliers) gets the main ingredient for producing chocolate: sugar. One of the cooperatives from which Fair Trade sugar is imported is Coopeagri. Examples of the chocolate products that the shop gets from this producer are Bribon - coffee and guarana (Fig 1), biscotti con cacao e anacardi (Fig 2), cajita (Fig 3), Cioccolatini Ripieni assortiti (Fig 4) and Nocciolato (Fig 5), as well as number of other non-chocolate ones.