Many people are now in favour of Fairtrade. In the 1970s fair trade coffee was regarded by many as poor quality and drunk by only by the hippy generation but in today’s world, with more than 850 products now carrying the Fairtrade mark of quality and all major supermarkets selling Fairtrade goods many are buying the products. Fair trade products are produced in developing countries and paid for at a fair price rather that intimidating the worker and paying them hardly any money for their work. Their products usually cost a little more that the normal supermarket brands but people who uses fair trade products do not really mind paying that little bit extra since they believe that it goes to a good cause. There have been many events that promote the buying of fair trade products including a Fair-trade Fortnight that is held every year.
However there are still many that does not use fair trade product. They believe that though it sounds all very well but there is a hidden truth. The reason is that that companies like “Transfair” other know as the third party still want to make a steady profit while trying to keep their promise that the producers still get a fair wage. They increase the price so that it could cover their work and earn profit while the producers back in the third world receive money for their labour but not earn a profit. Is that really fair? Certifiers from such companies make $0.10 per pound of certified coffee sold without actually contributing to the making of the coffee. They are a middleman, the ones that many fair traders blame for low the earnings of coffee producers but the middleman is desperately needed for fair-trade to exist.
We cannot solely depend of fair-trade alone to get the world out of poverty, from the results of a survey only about one out of ten people actually brought fair-trade products from the supermarket though people do believe that it is a way forward.
Some people believe that aid is not the answer. Money and food has not helped the people out of poverty. It has made the third world too depended on others for their survival. They believe that before other countries should help, the third world should first concentrate on trying to tackle their population growth. It is hopeless to be constantly giving aid to rescue them out of poverty when the population is soaring out of hand. They should understand that having a child is not so that they can grow up and earn money but that it is a special life that should grow up being happy but in a world like theirs there is not many other choices but to starve and suffer.
The misuse of funds is an issue that cause people to doubt organisations and campaigns. Some organisations accidentally misuse the money but it was unintentional while other set up “charities” that are actually frauds and they use the money for self benefits. People who set up scams obviously do not care about the underdeveloped world and certainly do not have a moral responsibility towards them but while they are being selfish they cause major doubts in ordinary people’s minds. These doubts can result in people giving less or even not at all therefore the undeveloped world would not get the aid that it needs.
Most people agree that they have a moral responsibility towards the under developed world and that having a religion helps to understand the problem better. Christians strongly believe that they should do everything possible to help the underdeveloped world. Father Michael agrees with this and states
“We should care about the people in poverty and those who need our help since Many times in the Bible we are called to love our neighbours”
Christian believes that wealth on earth is nothing compared to the wealth promised in heaven. Most Christian gives freely knowing that it is the right thing to do and they shall be rewarded in heaven.
Most parishes organize charitable events to help the underdeveloped world. Some parishes even set up a Fairtrade food stall to raise awareness on Fairtrade products.
While on the other hand Hindus traditionally considered it virtuous to voluntarily accept an uncomplicated life for spiritual purposes. Hindu texts stress the importance of stable family so they do not give as generously as other religions might. They believe that people in poverty should be help but they do no believe that they have a moral responsibility.
Personally I think that aid is necessary to a certain extent. Aid should be used to restore peoples live but after that people should focus on helping the underdeveloped world to stand on their own two feet instead on relaying solely on aid since aid only think about short term matters while the main problem is long term. I believe that Fairtrade would play a major part in helping the third world to be more independent and I am in favour of using Fairtrade products. However I do not believe that buying Fairtrade products is compulsory, it would be ideal if everyone buys Fairtrade items and I would strongly urge people to but it is not their responsibility to buy Fairtrade products nor is it right forcing people to buy it.
In the meanwhile I think that the world should focus on making the underdeveloped world a stable place with aid before going into Fairtrade. This can be done through charities and organisations and can be tackled if everyone is willing to be generous.