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Dear Mr. Eigener,
well written. I would, however, be interested in your thoughts on whether the extra revenue created by selling fair trade products actually finds its way to improving worker conditions in the countries where the items are produced?
It may be true that fair trade products in principle have the intention of improving the lot of workers in the other half of the world. My question is – who determines which half of the world people live in? Or is it more truthful to say that the other half of the world is a concept to make ourselves feel better. Ask your self if we are so much better off – why are our people working in zero hour contracts. Why are so many people working for the minimum wage. And why is there just no affordable housing available. My conclusion is that we can also be counted as being inhabitants of the other half of the world. And fearfully, if our present is so dismal, heaven forbid what it is like for all of those poor unfortunates producing products for the first half of the world.
So consider should the world consist of a better half and another half. Surely this in itself is a measure of our inequality, the reality being that we cannot have everything that we want because it is already the domain of the few. How can we be sure that when we purchase fair trade products – they are not just another illusion to make you feel superior, a trick to make you feel better – a scam which hides a murky world of injustice in another part of the world. I mean – what do we produce and then send off for the other half to benefit from?
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