SOUL SURMISE

CHOOSING THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE FAIR TRADE FENCE

photo: Gordon Ashbridge - "The Wrong Side of the Fence" taken on the right side in Sonop Vineyard

 

Our very first visit to the Sonop Vineyard on the Western Cape Winelands was a more remarkable learning curve than we could ever have imagined, more provocatively challenging than we could have contrived.

I was there with Queens University Presbyterian Chaplaincy students where at the time I was Chaplain. For some time we had been a community interested in Fair Trade. In fact we had been endeavouring to make our Chaplaincy as Fair Trade as possible and were campaigning with Christian Aid and Tear Fund to push Queens University to become a Fair Trade University.

So we had a rough idea. Fair Trade proponents and pioneers The Co-op had put us in touch with this Fair Trade Vineyard about an hour’s drive out of Cape Town.

Meeting the workers at the Sonop Vineyard was an inspiration. They were so excited about their work but more importantly about their new found freedoms. They spoke about their ownership of land; they own their homes and have their own land where they have their own vines that they tend and sell on to the mother company.

In South Africa, of course, land ownership is a raging issue. For the non-white to own land is a whole new sense of security, dignity and freedom. No longer could they be tossed out of their homes and sacked on a white man’s whim. Yet more than that, education is so vital to the new South Africa. That which the oppressed used as a protest against apartheid by boycotting has now become the very avenue to consolidating the change by making sure the children get the education that their parents never had.

So we heard about the nursery school in their own village, the Primary School where the bus takes them and the possibility of University – all paid for! Even the adults are getting all kinds of practical schooling. It is a world not dreamt about ten year ago but very much a reality. The sense of dignity, self worth and driving purpose of these workers as they develop their land is a joy to inhabit.

But there was more… so much more. Moments later and just a few hundred yards away we were standing by a fence in the workers’ village.

On their side of that fence were beautifully painted houses and carefully groomed gardens. There was that little school and a play area. There was colour and beauty and all of that freedom and ownership we had just heard about was bursting with life.

But on the other side of the fence…was the neighbouring vineyard. There was literally the thinnest breadth of wire dividing. And on that other side there was dirty, faded, paint peeling houses. There were rough dust and dirt paths between them. There was no colour, no energy, no pride and no sense of hopefulness.

It was a stark contrast. It was the most challenging piece of land I had ever stood upon. The choice was clear and stark. Buy into one side of the fence and there is a sense of care and justice for the workers. Buy into the other and there is simply exploitation, disregard and neglect of workers and their children.

When my students stand in their local Co-op to buy coffee, sugar, tea, chocolate or whatever they now know they now have a visual aid to help them decide what products to buy. Their decisions have suddenly become a whole lot bigger and a whole lot clearer.

There is a thin line between justice and oppression and we stood right at the sharpest part of the fence. Which side will we be investing in? What side of the fence best describes the redemption of heaven? Which side is God most thrilled with? What does it mean in our everyday shopping for us to bring God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven?

So, when I stand and see products without a Fair Trade mark I wonder what happens on the side of the fence where the grapes were picked... or the tea... or the coffee... or the bananas... or whatever... and I just can no longer bring myself to buy. I have driven a few miles to another store at times to makes sure my choices are on the right side of the fence!

 

LOLA'S STORY; FAIR TRADE TRANSFORMS A LIFE

No matter what the good and worthy cause there are always naysayers. Some folk don’t like positives. They are deeply suspicious, need to live in the negative and are always quick to judge. Fair Trade has had it’s fair share of critics. From “It doesn’t work” to “it makes things worse” there are people who should know better who simply have to have a go. Perhaps it is in order to prevent them having to engage with the project or pull their weight. Whatever the reason, when it comes to Fair Trade, they are wrong.

Let me introduce you to Lola. Lola grew up on a Vineyard in Western Cape, South Africa about an hour’s drive out of Cape Town. The Vineyard workers are of the lowest class in South Africa and live very insecure lives where they can be thrown off the Vineyard by the owner at any second; they have no rights. In such a life scenario Lola spiralled into alcohol abuse and lazy workmanship. Then she got “lucky.” A new Swiss owner decided to make his Vineyard Fair Trade and that as well as good quality soil, weather and vines he needed good quality staff. He set about making them more than slaves!

Fair Trade for Lola meant owning her own land and house. Now, she couldn’t be thrown off at a whim. From here she started sorting out her life and moved from lying drunk in the fields to becoming the administrator on the front desk. Through the Fair Trade wines her family got their education paid for and a tear will come to Lola’s eyes as she tells you about how well her son is doing at one of the best schools in the region. When you talk to Lola and make it through the shy lack of confidence that comes from her past to see her warm beaming smile in the present you see a human being whose life has been simply transformed outside and in because an owner decided to go Fair Trade and because people in shops across the world have chosen to buy it!

Fair Trade changes lives. I have seen it and her name is Lola!

 

 

 

 

 

No matter what the good and worthy cause there are always naysayers. Some folk don’t like positives. They are deeply suspicious, need to live in the negative and are always quick to judge. Fair Trade has had it’s fair share of critics. From “It doesn’t work” to “it makes things worse” there are people who should know better who simply have to have a go. Perhaps it is in order to prevent them having to engage with the project or pull their weight. Whatever the reason, when it comes to Fair Trade, they are wrong.

Let me introduce you to Lola. Lola grew up on a Vineyard in Western Cape, South Africa about an hour’s drive out of Cape Town. The Vineyard workers are of the lowest class in South Africa and live very insecure lives where they can be thrown off the Vineyard by the owner at any second; they have no rights. In such a life scenario Lola spiralled into alcohol abuse and lazy workmanship. Then she got “lucky.” A new Swiss owner decided to make his Vineyard Fair Trade and that as well as good quality soil, weather and vines he needed good quality staff. He set about making them more than slaves!

Fair Trade for Lola meant owning her own land and house. Now, she couldn’t be thrown off at a whim. From here she started sorting out her life and moved from lying drunk in the fields to becoming the administrator on the front desk. Through the Fair Trade wines her family got their education paid for and a tear will come to Lola’s eyes as she tells you about how well her son is doing at one of the best schools in the region. When you talk to Lola and make it through the shy lack of confidence that comes from her past to see her warm beaming smile in the present you see a human being whose life has been simply transformed outside and in because an owner decided to go Fair Trade and because people in shops across the world have chosen to buy it!

Fair Trade changes lives. I have seen it and her name is Lola!

 

 

 

 

WHICH SIDE OF THE FAIR TRADE FENCE ARE YOU ON?

Our very first visit to the Sonop Vineyard on the Western Cape Winelands was a more remarkable learning curve than we could ever have imagined, more provocatively challenging than we could have contrived. I was there with Queens University Presbyterian Chaplaincy students where at the time I was Chaplain. For some time we had been a community interested in Fair Trade. In fact we had been endeavouring to make our Chaplaincy as Fair Trade as possible and were campaigning with Christian Aid and Tear Fund to push Queens University to become a Fair Trade University. So we had a rough idea. Fair Trade proponents and pioneers The Co-op had put us in touch with this Fair Trade Vineyard about an hour’s drive out of Cape Town.

Meeting the workers at the Sonop Vineyard was an inspiration. They were so excited about their work but more importantly about their new found freedoms. They spoke about their ownership of land; they own their homes and have their own land where they have their own vines that they tend and sell on to the mother company. In South Africa, of course, land ownership is a raging issue. For the non-white to own land is a whole new sense of security, dignity and freedom. No longer could they be tossed out of their homes and sacked on a white man’s whim. Yet more than that, education is so vital to the new South Africa. That which the oppressed used as a protest against apartheid by boycotting has now become the very avenue to consolidating the change by making sure the children get the education that their parents never had. So we heard about the nursery school in their own village, the Primary School where the bus takes them and the possibility of University – all paid for! Even the adults are getting all kinds of practical schooling. It is a world not dreamt about ten year ago but very much a reality. The sense of dignity, self worth and driving purpose of these workers as they develop their land is a joy to inhabit.

But there was more… so much more. Moments later and just a few hundred yards away we were standing by a fence in the workers’ village. On their side of that fence were beautifully painted houses and carefully groomed gardens. There was that little school and a play area. There was colour and beauty and all of that freedom and ownership we had just heard about was bursting with life. But on the other side of the fence…was the neighbouring vineyard. There was literally the thinnest breadth of wire dividing. And on that other side there was dirty, faded, paint peeling houses. There were rough dust and dirt paths between them. There was no colour, no energy, no pride and no sense of hopefulness.

It was a stark contrast. It was the most challenging piece of land I had ever stood upon. The choice was clear and stark. Buy into one side of the fence and there is a sense of care and justice for the workers. Buy into the other and there is simply exploitation, disregard and neglect of workers and their children. When my students stand in their local Co-op to buy coffee, sugar, tea, chocolate or whatever they now know they now have a visual aid to help them decide what products to buy. Their decisions have suddenly become a whole lot bigger and a whole lot clearer. There is a thin line between justice and oppression and we stood right at the sharpest part of the fence. Which side will we be investing in? What side of the fence best describes the redemption of heaven? Which side is God most thrilled with? What does it mean in our everyday shopping for us to bring God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven?

So, when I stand and see products without a Fair Trade mark I wonder what happens on the side of the fence where the grapes were picked... or the tea... or the coffee... or the bananas... or whatever... and I just can no longer bring myself to buy. I have driven a few miles to another store at times to makes sure my choices are on the right side of the fence!

 

 

 

 

 

Our very first visit to the Sonop Vineyard on the Western Cape Winelands was a more remarkable learning curve than we could ever have imagined, more provocatively challenging than we could have contrived. I was there with Queens University Presbyterian Chaplaincy students where at the time I was Chaplain. For some time we had been a community interested in Fair Trade. In fact we had been endeavouring to make our Chaplaincy as Fair Trade as possible and were campaigning with Christian Aid and Tear Fund to push Queens University to become a Fair Trade University. So we had a rough idea. Fair Trade proponents and pioneers The Co-op had put us in touch with this Fair Trade Vineyard about an hour’s drive out of Cape Town.

Meeting the workers at the Sonop Vineyard was an inspiration. They were so excited about their work but more importantly about their new found freedoms. They spoke about their ownership of land; they own their homes and have their own land where they have their own vines that they tend and sell on to the mother company. In South Africa, of course, land ownership is a raging issue. For the non-white to own land is a whole new sense of security, dignity and freedom. No longer could they be tossed out of their homes and sacked on a white man’s whim. Yet more than that, education is so vital to the new South Africa. That which the oppressed used as a protest against apartheid by boycotting has now become the very avenue to consolidating the change by making sure the children get the education that their parents never had. So we heard about the nursery school in their own village, the Primary School where the bus takes them and the possibility of University – all paid for! Even the adults are getting all kinds of practical schooling. It is a world not dreamt about ten year ago but very much a reality. The sense of dignity, self worth and driving purpose of these workers as they develop their land is a joy to inhabit.

But there was more… so much more. Moments later and just a few hundred yards away we were standing by a fence in the workers’ village. On their side of that fence were beautifully painted houses and carefully groomed gardens. There was that little school and a play area. There was colour and beauty and all of that freedom and ownership we had just heard about was bursting with life. But on the other side of the fence…was the neighbouring vineyard. There was literally the thinnest breadth of wire dividing. And on that other side there was dirty, faded, paint peeling houses. There were rough dust and dirt paths between them. There was no colour, no energy, no pride and no sense of hopefulness.

It was a stark contrast. It was the most challenging piece of land I had ever stood upon. The choice was clear and stark. Buy into one side of the fence and there is a sense of care and justice for the workers. Buy into the other and there is simply exploitation, disregard and neglect of workers and their children. When my students stand in their local Co-op to buy coffee, sugar, tea, chocolate or whatever they now know they now have a visual aid to help them decide what products to buy. Their decisions have suddenly become a whole lot bigger and a whole lot clearer. There is a thin line between justice and oppression and we stood right at the sharpest part of the fence. Which side will we be investing in? What side of the fence best describes the redemption of heaven? Which side is God most thrilled with? What does it mean in our everyday shopping for us to bring God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven?

So, when I stand and see products without a Fair Trade mark I wonder what happens on the side of the fence where the grapes were picked... or the tea... or the coffee... or the bananas... or whatever... and I just can no longer bring myself to buy. I have driven a few miles to another store at times to makes sure my choices are on the right side of the fence!

 

 

 

 

CORRINE BAILEY RAE'S PRAYER FOR REVOLUTION - ON FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT

There is a song on Corinne Bailey Rae’s record The Sea that I am ways drawn to on Fairtrade Fortnight.

Love’s On Its Way is a prayer. It begins “Oh Father” confesses misunderstanding at the great mysteries, looks at the state of the world and then after more confession asks that her response to this world would not be just the prayer but the action of her life: -

 

“I want to be able to say that I did more than pray

I did more

Than just spend my money

Just writing letters

Than just going out marching

I did more than talking and saying the right thing

Wearing the right thing

It’s time for uprising...”

 

In many ways to pray is an easy thing. We can pray alone of in Church or in more full on prayer meetings that God would change the world. God wants more. We can give money too. The Irish, north and south, are great charity givers. Name the cause and we’ll send money. There are endless telethons, street collections, Church lunches, fundraising gigs and bungee jumps. 

God wants more. 

There are also an incredible amount of marches, internet campaigns and a creative fest of imaginative way to petition. 

God wants more.

Corinne’s prayer is for uprising and that is what Jesus was about in his heralding in the Kingdom. We look to a day when prayers of petition, giving to charity or taking to the streets will all be unnecessary. 

We look to a time when workers on a South African vineyard would sit under their very own vine as the Old Testament prophet said they would! 

What Jesus was about when he asked us to pray “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done/On earth as it is in heaven...” is exactly what Corinne Bailey Rae is praying about on Loves On Its Way. 

Pray that love is on its way is and then live the uprising that brings it in!

A FAIRTRADE PRAYER

I wrote this for FairTrade Fortnight some years ago. I tidied it up this week. If you are looking for something for a Church service on FairTrade. Feel free to use it.

Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken. (Micah 4:4)

Jesus thy Kingdom come/Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10)

God, in heaven no one lies drunk in the fields 

God, in heaven everyone is satisfied with purpose

God, in heaven no one has more than anyone else

God, in heaven everyone’s child has enough

God, in heaven no one is treated as someone else’s

God, in heaven everyone has their own vine, to sit beneath.

 

So God we pray 

As Jesus taught us to pray

“Thy Kingdom come, 

Thy will be done

On earth as it is in heaven”

 

So God help us to live on earth

Lives that answer Jesus prayer

May what we choose to buy in our weekly shop

Bring your Kingdom 

Instead of the Devil’s Kingdom

In our shopping bags

As it is in heaven.

PUTTING INJUSTICE IN YOUR SHOPPING TROLLEY... DON'T!

There have been times when there is a coffee emergency in the Stockman household and I have raced to the nearest grocery store, only to look at what is available on the shelves and leave without the coffee. Don’t think I am a coffee snob. In times of desperate need I will drink instant - really!

No, it is the injustice that I cannot swallow. If there is no Fair Trade mark not he coffee then it will not be coming home. Now, I hope you noticed that it is the injustice that I am concentrating on here. Most times it is not that I buy the Fair Trade because I know that it is making a better world. Most time sit is because I cannot deal with the fact that I might be complicit to the injustices of buying the non Fair Trade product.

For those who have known me for years you will know where I am taking you next. There is a Vineyard about an hour outside Cape Town. When it was taken over in the 90s by a Swiss owner he made Sonop a Fair Trade Vineyard. 

This gave the workers the security of their own homes, which they developed and too pride in. They had their own land to plant their own vines to sell back to the farm that they work on with more diligence than before. Their children were being educated and they too were developing their skills. Lola, once uninterested and drinking too much was now behind reception, the first friendly face you meet at Sonop. When she talks about her son’s education her smile is wide as the ocean!

Of course that made me keen to buy Fair Trade! BUT there is more at Sonop. The village, that is now owned by the workers, is beside a fence that divides the farm from the neighbouring one. 

On the other side of that fence is the unfairly traded village. Dilapidated houses, rough terrain, children looking disheveled. The contrast is startling. That changed my reasoning...or  other strengthened it. Having seen the injustice side of the fence I can never buy wine from places like South Africa and Chile that has not a Fair Trade mark in case I am investing in an unjust village like the one beside Sonop.

So, back to the Stockies’ coffee crisis. I feel better without any coffee rather than have a cup that I know is exploitative of people. It is Fair Trade Fortnight and though that has no impact on a household that is passionate about Fair Trade, it gives me an annual opportunity to encourage you to think while you shop; are you putting injustice into your shopping bag or are you making the world a better place. It’s one way that the kingdom can come on earth as it is in heaven; no exploitation of workers there!

ARE YOU BUYING THIS KIND OF INJUSTICE?

(for Fair Trade Fortnight Stocki's shares how he experienced the tangible difference between Fair Trade and the injustice on the other side of the fence ...)

It was a more remarkable learning curve than we could ever have imagine, more provocatively challenging than we could have planned. For some time we had been a community interested in Fair Trade. In fact we had been endeavouring to make our Presbyterian Chaplaincy as Fair Trade as possible and are campaigning with Christian Aid and Tear Fund to push Queens University to become a Fair Trade University. So we had a rough idea. Fair Trade proponents and pioneers The Co-op had put us in touch with a Fair Trade vineyard about an hour’s drive out of Cape Town towards Paarl and though for many involved in a Presbyterian Chaplaincy a Vineyard might not have been a first choice, off we went to investigate.

Our hostess at the Sonop Vineyard was more than helpful and took the team on the regular wine making tour. It was pretty much a whole new world and the sci-fi design in a vast and almost empty plain out towards the mountains gave it a James Bond feel which was capturing the groups interest much more than how the vats worked! Anyway after a few moments of the tasting session the message was loud and clear. We did not know how to nose, sip or what on earth the bucket was for…she quickly rearranged her mindset and said, “Maybe you are much more interested in the Fair Trade aspect of our work.”

Meeting the workers was an inspiration. They were so excited about their work but more importantly about their new found freedoms. They spoke about their ownership of land; they own their homes and have their own land where they have their own vines that they tend and sell on to the mother company. In South Africa, of course, land ownership is a raging issue. For the non-white to own land is a whole new sense of security, dignity and freedom. No longer could they be tossed out of their homes and sacked on a white man’s whim. Yet more than that, education is so vital to the new South Africa. That which the oppressed used as a protest against apartheid by boycotting has now become the very avenue to consolidating the change by making sure the children get the education that their parents never had. So we heard about the nursery school in their own village, the Primary School where the bus takes them and the possibility of University – all paid for! Even the adults are getting all kinds of practical schooling. It is a world not dreamt about ten year ago but very much a reality. The sense of dignity, self worth and driving purpose of these workers as they develop their land is a joy to inhabit.

But there was more…moments later and just a few hundred yards away we were standing by a fence in their village. On their side of that fence were beautifully painted houses and carefully groomed gardens. There was a little school and a play area. There was colour and beauty and all of that freedom and ownership we had just heard about was bursting with life. But on the other side of the fence…was the neighbouring vineyard. There was literally the thinnest breadth of wire dividing. And on that other side there was dirty, faded, paint peeling houses. There were rough dust and dirt paths between them. There was no colour, no energy, no pride and no sense of hopefulness.

It was a stark contrast. It was the most challenging piece of land I had ever stood upon. The choice was clear and stark. Buy into one side of the fence and there is a sense of care and justice for the workers. Buy into the other and there is simply exploitation, disregard and neglect of workers and their children. When my students stand in their local Co-op to buy coffee, sugar, tea, chocolate or whatever they now know they now have a visual aid to help them decide what products to buy. Their decisions have suddenly become a whole lot bigger and a whole lot clearer. There is a thin line between justice and oppression and we stood right at the sharpest part of the fence. Which side will we be investing in? What side of the fence best describes the redemption of heaven? Which side is God most thrilled with? What does it mean in our everyday shopping for us to bring God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven?

WHICH SIDE OF THE FAIR TRADE FENCE ARE YOU?

Our very first visit to the Sonop Vineyard on the Western Cape Winelands was a more remarkable learning curve than we could ever have imagined, more provocatively challenging than we could have contrived. I was there with Queens University Presbyterian Chaplaincy students where at the time I was Chaplain. For some time we had been a community interested in Fair Trade. In fact we had been endeavouring to make our Chaplaincy as Fair Trade as possible and were campaigning with Christian Aid and Tear Fund to push Queens University to become a Fair Trade University. So we had a rough idea. Fair Trade proponents and pioneers The Co-op had put us in touch with this Fair Trade Vineyard about an hour’s drive out of Cape Town.

Meeting the workers at the Sonop Vineyard was an inspiration. They were so excited about their work but more importantly about their new found freedoms. They spoke about their ownership of land; they own their homes and have their own land where they have their own vines that they tend and sell on to the mother company. In South Africa, of course, land ownership is a raging issue. For the non-white to own land is a whole new sense of security, dignity and freedom. No longer could they be tossed out of their homes and sacked on a white man’s whim. Yet more than that, education is so vital to the new South Africa. That which the oppressed used as a protest against apartheid by boycotting has now become the very avenue to consolidating the change by making sure the children get the education that their parents never had. So we heard about the nursery school in their own village, the Primary School where the bus takes them and the possibility of University – all paid for! Even the adults are getting all kinds of practical schooling. It is a world not dreamt about ten year ago but very much a reality. The sense of dignity, self worth and driving purpose of these workers as they develop their land is a joy to inhabit.

But there was more… so much more. Moments later and just a few hundred yards away we were standing by a fence in the workers’ village. On their side of that fence were beautifully painted houses and carefully groomed gardens. There was that little school and a play area. There was colour and beauty and all of that freedom and ownership we had just heard about was bursting with life. But on the other side of the fence…was the neighbouring vineyard. There was literally the thinnest breadth of wire dividing. And on that other side there was dirty, faded, paint peeling houses. There were rough dust and dirt paths between them. There was no colour, no energy, no pride and no sense of hopefulness.

It was a stark contrast. It was the most challenging piece of land I had ever stood upon. The choice was clear and stark. Buy into one side of the fence and there is a sense of care and justice for the workers. Buy into the other and there is simply exploitation, disregard and neglect of workers and their children. When my students stand in their local Co-op to buy coffee, sugar, tea, chocolate or whatever they now know they now have a visual aid to help them decide what products to buy. Their decisions have suddenly become a whole lot bigger and a whole lot clearer. There is a thin line between justice and oppression and we stood right at the sharpest part of the fence. Which side will we be investing in? What side of the fence best describes the redemption of heaven? Which side is God most thrilled with? What does it mean in our everyday shopping for us to bring God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven?

So, when I stand and see products without a Fair Trade mark I wonder what happens on the side of the fence where the grapes were picked... or the tea... or the coffee... or the bananas... or whatever... and I just can no longer bring myself to buy. I have driven a few miles to another store at times to makes sure my choices are on the right side of the fence!

FAIR TRADE PRAYER

(This is a prayer I wrote to recognise Fair Trade Fortnight in Fitzroy)

Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken. (Micah 4:4)

Jesus thy Kingdom come/Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10)

God in heaven no one goes without food

God in heaven no one has less than anyone else

God in heaven no one children does without

God in heaven everyone is free

God in heaven no one is being treated unfair

God in heaven everyone has their own vine to sit underneath

God in heaven no is living in fear

So God we pray as Jesus taught us to pray

Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done

On earth as it is in heaven

So God help us to live on earth in a way that helps to answer Jesus prayer

May what we choose to buy this week bring your Kingdom instead of the Devil’s Kingdom

On earth as it is in heaven.

FAIR TRADE - BONO, ALI, SHOPPING and EZEKIEL

 

It was a stark contrast. It was the most challenging piece of land I had ever stood upon. The choice was clear and stark. Buy into one side of the fence and there is a sense of care and justice for the workers. Buy into the other and there is simply exploitation, disregard and neglect of workers and their children. When I stand in my local Co-op to buy coffee, sugar, tea, chocolate or whatever I now have a visual aid to help me decide what products to buy. My decisions have suddenly become a whole lot bigger and a whole lot clearer. There is a thin line between justice and oppression and I stood right at the sharpest part of the fence. Which side will I be investing in? What side of the fence best describes the redemption of heaven? Which side is God most thrilled with? What does it mean in our everyday shopping for us to bring God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven?

God advises his people constantly about the dangers of wealth becoming a greed that distracts from more eternal. In Isaiah 3 he sits in judgement on the rich using and abusing the poor for their own decadent comforts, “it is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?” Ezekiel tells Israel what her sister Sodom’s sin was, “She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” The rich/poor divide in our world is something God ranted has about for thousands of years. It is not his way and it doesn’t happen in heaven; a heaven we pray in the Lord’s Prayer will come to earth.

In the book edition of How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, U2 front man and political activist Bono spells it out, “Shopping is politics. You vote every time you spend money.” He points out that of course trade is good BUT only when it is fair. The Hewson (Bono’s real surname) family are not just talking about trading fairly. Bono’s wife Ali has just launched a Fair Trade fashion line. Edun is a partnership between Ali’s vision of world revolution through what people wear and New Yorker Rogan Gregory’s fashion designs. Street fashion with a story that doesn’t make us guilty of greedy exploitation and a style that is deeper than the outward appearance. So Ali in recent interviews echoes her husband, who I suspect might be echoing her all along, “The revolution is happening in your house, in your purse, in your wallet, how you spend your money...Shopping is politics."

We could wrestle in cerebral and spiritual discussion about these things for some time. It is scandalous that in trying to switch America on to justice issues like debt relief, HIV/AIDS and trade issues both Bono and Ali have had to prove what advantage it would be to America rather than the good idea of ridding the world of poverty, injustice and millions of senseless deaths. In Making Poverty History Bono has been showing how good it would be to America’s security as well as the advantages for trade. In the concept of Edun one of the aims is to prove that it can be profitable so that other companies, whose bottom line is greedily increasing profits, might see the benefits. This is the vomit of the modern malaise of selfishly getting more with no moral or ethical conscience to give. In the end though where Ali in particular and Fair Trade in general hit the nail on the head is in every day actions, not in the intellectual ether.

For Ali there is a dilemma. As a mother she doesn’t want to think that another mother’s child was exploited in making her children’s clothes. She doesn’t want to think that she or her children wear the stories of injustice. Companies who leave factories and the souls of their workers desolate to set up elsewhere in order to save a few cents per t-shirt is not a story that she wants her children to be wearing. Clothes that say we in the west walked over the poor to feed our greed might look good but they should feel bad. The whole of Africa had 6% of world trade in 1980 and by 2002 that had dropped to 2%. To increase Africa’s trade possibilities and give jobs to the people of that continent is a more lasting way to make poverty history than debt relief and charity though we should never give up on those. African writer Ben Okri wrote, “Stories are the secret reservoir of values: change the stories individuals live by and tell themselves and you change the individuals and nations.” Wearing clothes with positive and life changing stories could be infectious.

The United Kingdom have been trail blazing in the Fair Trade market. There was a 50% increase in sales last year alone with sales topping £140m for 2004. The number of Fair Trade certified products rose from 150 in 2003 to 834. Café Direct the Fair Trade marked coffee has now 19% of the gourmet coffee market. It is only a decade since charities like Christian Aid encouraged people to campaign in their local supermarkets to have Fair Trade coffee on the shelves. It seemed such a small token of activism and yet today all major chains carry various Fair Trade products and the Co-op’s own chocolate brand for example is totally Fair Trade.

In the UK there are no excuses. The stories in your shopping bags (environmentally friendly of course!) can be intravenously purifying the blood of the nation’s soul never mind your own. There is no need to go to Africa or central America to change the world. That is good news and bad. The good is that we can all do something today. Making your impression can be tangible. It also means that there are responsibilities and no chance of hiding your head in the sand. To not make decisions about changing what and why we buy is making a decision to keep the poor, poor. To make poverty history is within the grasp of this generation. As Bono said at the Labour Party Conference back in November, ““We are the first generation that can look extreme and stupid poverty in the eye, look across the water to Africa and elsewhere and say this and mean it: we have the cash, we have the drugs, we have the science -- but do we have the will? Do we have the will to make poverty history?” Do we? And do the American people have the bravery to do what the UK has done so far and put Fair Trade on the map of the land of the free.