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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
July 1, 2006
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
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| World Fair Trade Day poster |
Fair Trade is a worldwide movement to improve the production and distribution of international goods that promote ethical labour practices, environmental and economic sustainability. The movement is gaining popularity in the Global South as an alternative to the unfair labour practices used by mega-corporations whose only interest is maximizing their profits. The Fair Trade movement provides local workers with adequate pay, standard work hours and gender equity. This year, May 13 is the World Fair Trade Day. 256 Fair Trade Organizations from over 60 countries will participate in the day organized by the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT). |
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| Shirabe Yamada, center, has been talking to participants about the benefits of Fair Trade and the challenges of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. |
Peace Boat has been preparing for the day with guest educator Shirabe Yamada. Originally from Japan, she has been active in supporting Palestinians in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the past ten years. For two years now she has lived in Jerusalem and heads the non-profit Fair Trade organization Sunbula. Sunbula supports sustainable work of Palestinian artisans by promoting and marketing traditional handicrafts. Working with many Palestinian women's cooperatives, Sunbula markets products such as olive oil, embroidered shawls and mother-of-pearl jewelry for international markets. With a very small overhead, the profits go directly back cooperatives and into the hands of the artisans. |
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| Participants playing the global trade game |
Since 2003, the barrier wall constructed by Israeli forces have put additional hardships on the Palestinian community. With the aim of stopping the flow of Palestinians into Israeli areas, the closed boundaries have caused many Palestinian breadwinners to lose their source of income. Sunbula is not a charity or aid organization but rather a self-reliance capacity building organization that allows Palestinian women to use their skills to support their families. With unemployment rates reaching upwards of 70%, the women's cooperatives and Sunbula empower women to utilize the craft skills that have been passed down from generation to generation.
The Palestinian craft organizations are only able to purchase their raw materials from Israel which hikes up the price of the product. This makes it difficult to compete with countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines that can produce similar products for much less. Sunbula also supports the organizations with product development and quality control. |
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| Participants lined up to have their 'products' checked for quality control. |
To help participants understand the structure of global trade, Shirabe facilitated a game in which 60 participants divided into six countries: Country A, B, C, and so forth. Each country received a packet filled with tools and a set of rules. They were each required to create the same product-a chain link of paper rings- but had varying resources to work with-- newspaper, scissors, rulers and glue. Countries could negotiate and trade their resources. Once the products were made they were checked by market monitors for product quality. The price of product rose and fell along with its market value. With the clock ticking, participants raced to produce both quality and quantity of product. Countries abundant in natural resources pulled ahead of countries that didn't have enough resources. The game showed participants the many factors that determine the market value of products and got them to think of the reasons for the disparity between the rich and the poor nations. |
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| The World Trade Fair Market onboard Peace Boat selling many of the products produced by Palestinian women cooperatives. |
On World Fair Trade Day, a Fair Trade market was set up onboard to sell the various products produced by Sunbula. The Palestinian handicrafts quickly disappeared into the hand of participants. They left the market with lighter pockabooks and fuller hearts.
Resources:
www.sunbula.org |
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