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Launch of
‘The
The scene: United Reformed Church in
The cast: our local member of Parliament, an international campaigner, a
banana producer and a local activist.
The subject: justice, dignity, life in all its fullness.
And an audience that went beyond the usual Christian suspects but came
to church on a Saturday morning to listen to an essentially Christian message.
Kate Hartland, initiator of the campaign welcomes Peter Ainsworth, ever
an able chairman, who assured us of his support for the campaign before
introducing the speakers. Saleep Mukarji, Director for
Christian Aid, spoke passionately about justice in trade. Simeon Green, Relationship Director for
Windward Bananas, added telling detail about the situation of producers and
Matt Phillips emphasised from a Save the Children perspective the potential
breadth of this life-saving coalition.
The Fairtrade Foundation has celebrated its
tenth birthday with the good news that fairly traded sales now exceed £100m
annually. Locally, supermarkets and
health food shops offer a few items – tea, coffee, bananas, chocolate – but
local churches still need to promote fair-trade and provide retail outlets
themselves. “Oxted as a Fairtrade town?” is a campaign to promote greater awareness
in schools and businesses as well as churches.
The launch was a well-organised and efficiently executed operation that
was a showcase for the Trade Justice Movement, Traidcraft,
Tearcraft, and other fair-trade organisations. Here were Christian values displayed in the
marketplace. Here was the chance for the
child and adult alike to absorb the essence of the currently skewed economics
of world trade and to know how to contribute to the solution,. Not by buying the odd packet of coffee to
salve a conscience but regularly seek out the ever-growing range of quality
goods in our shops – from lapsang souchong
to leather footballs – as an affirmative choice for partnership in a world of
negative constraints for primary producers.
Further details and news of the continuing campaign from http://www.limpsfield.net/ (click on Fairtrade in Oxted) or kateh@fish.co.uk