WORLD FAIR TRADE DAY- MAY 4th

Hey Fair Traders!

Thanks to the efforts of Fair Trade supporters like you, Fair Trade is gathering more support each day.  For example, Fair Trade coffee is now sold by over 120 companies at over 7,000 locations in the US.  However, a lot of people still don't know about that Fair Trade products such as coffee, tea, chocolate, and handicrafts can be bought in the US.  To help build support for Fair Trade among their local communities, Fair Trade supporters around the world will be organizing a host of activities on "World Fair Trade Day," May 4, 2002. We at Global Exchange have a great way for you to be a part of this diverse international effort to bring Fair Trade to more struggling producers around the world.  In this posting, you will find information about this exciting and fun opportunity.  Following that, we've included a list of Fair Trade resources- the perfect thing to check out so you will be ready to spread the news about Fair Trade on world Fair Trade Day!

take care and thanks for all you are doing for Fair Trade,

Deborah and Melissa

1. Café Hopping for Coffee Farmers:  Get Fair Trade into more cafés in your neighborhood on World Fair Trade Day, May 4, 2002!

In the spirit of our Fair Trade Coffee campaign, we are encouraging you to take some time on May 4th to visit each café in your neighborhood, talk to the manager and employees about Fair Trade, and fill out a short report sheet to record your activities.  This is a positive, fun, and easy way to promote Fair Trade- we’ll send you all the materials you need and a small group could do this in a few hours by taking on different areas of town. If the café already sells Fair Trade that’s great!  Be sure to buy a cup of Fair Trade coffee and a few pounds of beans and tell them you appreciate what they are doing!* If the café doesn’t sell Fair Trade, explain why, as a consumer, you would like them to sell Fair Trade. Our information packet includes background information, tips for making your case, and a list of Fair Trade Certified coffee suppliers you can give the managers.

*Cafes that already serve Fair Trade coffee may also be interested in setting up a sampling table on Fair Trade Day.  If you know of any such cafes if your area, talk to the manager a few weeks ahead of time and encourage them to do this.  We can help you get materials to be handed out at the sampling table.

Ready to get started?!  Contact Melissa Schweisguth for information and materials: melissa@globalexchange.org, 415-255-7296 x 352

2. As part of our mission to educate the public about human rights, social justice, and the global economy, Global Exchange offers numerous resources. The following books and films are valuable educational resources for learning about Fair Trade crafts, coffee, chocolate, and more.

COFFEE WITH PLEASURE: Just Java and World Trade

by LAURE WARIDEL, Forward by Maude Barlow  Photographs by Eric St-Pierre Using the example of the world coffee trade, author and researcher Laure Waridel demonstrates how the current economic system perpetuates poverty and injustice. Coffee With Pleasure, Waridel's new book on coffee and the fair trade option, offers practical information to help construct viable, trading alternatives to break with the existing cycles of economic exploitation and environmental destruction. "Legions of people who produce our coffee suffer abysmally low wages because of absurdly low prices. Solving this problem, by buying with conscience, would cost coffee drinkers almost nothing.  To read Coffee With Pleasure is to know that we can change the world in simple, meaningful ways now. Please read it, know it, and drink with gratitude." -- PAUL HAWKEN, Author of the The Ecology of Commerce and the The Next Economy "You hold in your hands a rare treasure- a book about hope, life and ethics. It is the story of a cause and of a movement and it builds a bridge of promise to tomorrow for millions of workers and their families around the world."-- MAUDE BARLOW, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and Director with the International Forum on Globalization " If you're involved in popular education about Fair Trade, please don't pass up the opportunity to check out this book!!"- Deborah & Melissa

No Nonsense Guide to Fair Trade http://store.globalexchange.org/nnfairtrade.html

Edited by David Ransom

Fair Trade primer that offers chapters on NAFTA, Fair Trade coffee, chocolate, and bananas, blue jeans, where to buy Fair Trade goods, and more. (144 pages, 2001, $10)

Artisans and Cooperatives: Developing Alternative Trade for the Global Economy http://store.globalexchange.org/artisans.html

Edited by Kimberly M. Grimes and B. Lynne Milgram

Bringing together case studies from the Americas and Asia, this collection addresses the interplay etween craft production and the global market. It contributes to current debates on economic inequality by offering practical examples of the political, economic, and cultural issues surrounding artisan production. (208 pages, 2000, $19.95)

The Coffee Book: Anatomy of an Industry - From Crop to the Last Drop http://store.globalexchange.org/coffeebook.html

By Gregory Dicum and Nina Luttinger

The Coffee Book is an engaging, informative book that is full of facts, figures, cartoons, and commentary, covering coffee from its first use in Ethiopia in the sixth century AD to the dramatic rise of Starbucks and other specialty retailers in the 1990s. It tells the story of international trade and speculation that can make or break entire national economies, considers the exploitation that mass cultivation causes, and explores the growing Fair Trade movement. (196 pages, 2000, $14.95)

A Cafecito Story

http://store.globalexchange.org/cafecito.html Story by Julia Alvarez, Illustrations by Belkis Ramírez Fictional/semi-autobiographical story by famed writer Julia Alvarez shows the impact of Fair Trade on coffee farmers as well as coffee drinkers. A Cafecito Story tells the complex tale of a social beverage that bridges nations and unites people in trade, in words, in birds, and in love. (58 Pages, 2001, $14.95)

Santiago's Story http://store.globalexchange.org/santiagosstory.html

Produced by TransFair

A rich, uplifting documentary about Fair Trade and the dramatic changes it has brought to the lives of a coffee farmer and his family in the mountains of Nicaragua. It is the story of over 500,000 small farmers all over the world who have turned to Fair Trade for a decent living wage. A powerful tool for education, this film shows us the tremendous impact we can have in the lives of people like Santiago when we choose to buy Fair Trade coffee. (16 minutes, 1999, $15)

The Strength of the Indigenous People of Mut Vitz: Producing Fair Trade Organic Coffee in the Highlands of Chiapas http://store.globalexchange.org/mutvitz.html Produced by The Mut Vitz Coffee Cooperative with the Chiapas Media Project This documentary looks at the lives and work of the organic coffee farmers of the Mut Vitz Coffee Collective in Chiapas, Mexico. Over a year in the making (filmed and digitally edited by two video makers who are members of the collective), this film traces the entire Fair Trade/Organic coffee production process: from seedling to transplant, from cultivation to the roasted bean. The film shows us the challenges that the collective faces in processing their coffee for market and their achievements using a Fair Trade model of distribution. (Tzotzil and Spanish, with English subtitles, 27 minutes, 2000, $25)

You can order everything online, by phone, fax, email, or mail.  In addition to these resources, Global Exchange also carries Fair Trade crafts, coffees, teas, chocolates, and more! Global Exchange On-Line Store 2017 Mission Street #303 San Francisco CA 94110 800-497-1994 x237 (phone) 415-255-7498 (fax) storemaster@globalexchange.org http://www.globalexchange.org/store