Fair Trade Campaigns Announces the Launch of New Racial Justice Hub
Fair Trade Campaigns is doubling down on our commitment to inclusion and equity by bringing a larger focus on racial justice to the Fair Trade conversation.
We are excited to be adding a hub of resources, along with upcoming goal revisions, aimed towards including and encouraging racial justice advocacy. Equipped with these resources, we hope that organizers can begin integrating racial justice efforts with intent into their fight for social justice.
What is included in the resource hub?
The hub hosts educational resources including a classic 101 guide where readers can get quick facts and learn about the intersections between racial justice and Fair Trade. Advocates can then pair this information with one of the many captivating talks from previous Fair Trade Campaigns conference sessions.
Education, however, is only half the battle; we must also act. The hub includes an advocacy guide and social media resources, as well as upcoming goal revisions that make racial justice advocacy a core piece of institutional Fair Trade designation.
Finally, advocates will find a surplus of resources from podcasts, to organizations to donate to, petitions and more all crowd-sourced from the Fair Trade Campaigns community.
How is Racial Justice related to Fair Trade?
Fair Trade and racial justice are aligned in several ways. Read a few below, pulled from our Fair Trade and Racial Justice 101 Guide.
- Fair Trade advocates for justice, equality, and non-discrimination for farmers and workers in the Global South, and the communities where products are produced and purchased by ensuring products are certified against rigorous standards including equal representation and non-discrimination.
- The Fair Trade system exists to correct many of the inequalities and injustices that historically exist because of colonialism and the exploitation of small producers, often in the Global South. As such, Fair Trade is racial justice.
- Considering that consumer spending accounts for 70% of the U.S. economy, Fair Trade can play a role in supporting social justice by directing some of this spending power towards Black-owned businesses. Check out this blog post by The Honest Consumer for a list of 50+ sustainable, Black-owned business that you can support.
What is our role?
What is our role as Fair Trade advocates in this work towards Racial Justice? Manpreet Kaur Kalra, anti-racism educator and host of Art of Citizenry podcast, argues that the Fair Trade community should adopt a more intersectional approach in fighting for justice.
“Fair Trade cannot be considered the singular solution to complex issues, but can be a key aspect of larger solutions. True sustainable impact requires collaboration. It requires us to facilitate change that is led by the communities we enter as outsiders. Anti-racism is about challenging the systems, policies and attitudes we navigate when trying to do good in an unequal world. It is about recognizing how our understanding of impact and global economies is rooted in colonial power dynamics. Trade is at its core built on the existence of global inequities. Previously colonized countries are still struggling to rebuild as a result of years of extraction, which continues to manifest today in the form of capitalism. To truly dismantle these inequities, we must first challenge ourselves and ask ‘what got us here in the first place?’
It is critical that, as a movement, we recognize the importance of systems thinking. Solutions cannot be created in silos. We cannot create sustainable change unless we have an intersectional approach to how we think about economic development and building just economies. There can be no equity or fairness without justice. How we create a more fair and just economy is dependent on our ability to dismantle the systems of oppression in which we operate.”
The principles that fuel the fight for racial justice go hand-in-hand with those that fuel Fair Trade. Both movements recognize the importance of lifting the voices of those historically and systematically marginalized, creating equal opportunity for all, and establishing fairness, transparency and accountability in our societal systems. The common ethos makes it necessary for the Fair Trade community to play a pivotal role in racial justice advocacy.
Below, you will find resources divided by education and action so that we as Fair Trade advocates can also become advocates for Racial Justice.
Educate
Fair Trade and Racial Justice 101
Racial Justice Social Media Assets
National Conference Racial Justice Sessions Guide
Crowdsourced Racial Justice Resources
Act
Advocate with us– We are currently revising our goals to include and encourage racial justice advocacy, stay tuned!
Donate, sign a petition, support Black & Brown owned businesses in our Crowdsourced Racial Justice Resources
You can find the full racial justice resource hub here.
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