mountainear

On Wednesday evening I went to the monthly WI meeting at Marton Village Hall. So far so ordinary. Marton ladies were joined by their counterparts from neighbouring Chirbury to listen to a talk on 'Trade Justice'.

Later, I read this on the MakePovertyHistory website:

'Something is very wrong with world trade - it's filling the pockets of the rich while ripping off the world's poorest people. Why is this happening? What can we do? Read on to find out why MakePovertyHistory is calling for Trade Justice. Millions of people are stuck in the trade trap. No matter how hard they work, they earn less every year. The situation is so dismal, half the world's population now lives on less than US$2 a day - roughly the cost of a burger.'

It was a talk - and all credit to the speaker who made a brilliant presentation - which has really made me sit up and think about inequality in the world and how much of our own lives we take for granted. Some facts and figures were staggering: that some multi-national corporations are wealthier than some nations. Subsidised US rice can flood a foreign market bringing its price in the market place below that of home grown rice (the subsidisation of which is discouraged) - how can any local farmer compete? The list of staggering statistics is depressingly long.

But we are all empowered to effect change - supporting campaigns for trade justice would be a start - buying fair trade products another. And many products are now stocked by our friendly local supermarkets.........