We now know that we cannot possibly succeed in our goal to transform the food system without the active, deep and committed participation of citizen consumers. An authentic Fair Trade system requires democratic organizing of producers in the South, worker democracy for businesses in the North, and active citizen involvement in the North.
In the wider food system, corporations control everything from seeds to supply and prices, while relentlessly chipping away at the regulations that inform and protect consumers. They fight feverishly to prevent us from knowing if GMOs are present in our food. And they continue to promote production methods that hasten the warming of the planet—a present day threat to millions of small farmers and others around the world.
So we are taking a powerful, new step in building a democratic brand that connects small farmers in the south to citizen consumers in the North. We believe that in order to be successful in realizing the original Fair Trade vision, we need to deepen involvement and participation in our model. In doing this we go back to the best that alternative trade has always been about: innovation, global solidarity, social imagining and learning, and economic justice. This will be a long slow process and a great challenge.
This initiative is called the Equal Exchange Action Forum, and we need to begin organizing right now!
To Apply: Please send your resume, cover letter and answers to the application questions below to organizing@equalexchange.coop
Go to the GEO front page
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