phyllis

Some of the memories that come to mind:

1) Driving up the beautiful yet dangerous switch back roads into the highlands and passing the Zapatista community of Oventic, then seeing that there was a heavily foritfied military base just around the next corner. Later we passed a checkpoint of non-uniformed men with shotguns. It provided a first hand view of the low intensity war in Chiapas.

2) Listening to the testimonials of the CIRSA members. These are people who’s grandparents were slaves, not like slaves, but real slaves. They were paid in alchohol or soap if they got anything at all. To realize that these people have pulled themselves up from slavery into owning their own warehouse, fleet of trucks, and operations gave me hope.

3) Hearing testimonials from the Women of CIRSA, who have formed a Mayan style weaving spin-off co-op called OMRISI. One comment that a woman said was, “everyone deserves to live a decent life.”

4) On the overnight stay at a CIRSA coffee farming village playing and interacting with the children. These kids where full of all the same youthful energy of children in our country, but they are lucky enough to live in a place where community and family are emphasized and important. I realized that community values in the US have been taken from us and replaced with a Hollywood, plastic, TV, video game version of reality. These farmers may lack many of the things that we take for granted but they have a sense of togetherness that is rare in my culture. Sitting up late with some of the younger boys was magical. We couldn’t speak each other’s language but we managed to laugh and have fun for a few hours. Plus the stars where amazing.

5) Having the farmers of CIRSA open up their homes to us. I ate the toughest chicken I’ve ever had but it was still great. Before we left they said, “we hope that the food was OK, we’re just simple country folk and don’t have the city food that you are used to”. I almost burst into tears.

6) Hearing the farmers complain that the fair trade price that they where getting still wasn’t enough for them underscored the importance of us working with them as partners and the importance of their membership in CIRSA. Without the cooperative they would be on their own, make even less money and not have any access to the loans that enabled them to build up infastructure (like the all important drying patios) in thier remote village. It made me realize that the fair trade price is such a small part of the equation and that the trade system itself needs to be changed.

7) Seeing a community meeting of about 100 people meet on a Thursday morning. I’ve participated in many activist meetings in the US but have never seen that level of community involvment. It made me realize that activism for them is a way of life, or rather, something that their lives depend on. Here in the States we have a choice between getting involved in politics or not. Down in Chiapas it seems like people don’t have a choice, they must engage.

Hope you enjoyed reading these comments!

-Brian O’Connell

The real problem with the plantation model, in my view, is the inherent difference of the balance of power. Small-scale farmers are the folks who get exploited from all sides because they lack political and financial power on their own. When they band together with neighboring farmers and build (with much blood, sweat and faith) a successful cooperative they gain more power for themselves, their community and others like them. This forces those that would exploit them to listen to their voices and take them seriously in the business and political arena.

When someone is a worker on a plantation, albeit a well paid and well treated one, their job depends on the landowner and his or her generosity. When there is a history of indigenous and peasant oppression who among us would be brave enough to voice a grievance when there are ready and willing replacements who won’t rock the boat? I’m not saying that every plantation owner would retaliate, but the power dynamic is not equal and is not one that creates the change for the most disadvantaged to be heard.

I fully support the idea of fairly paid and treated workers on plantations and in factories and I hope that one day it is the rule and not the exception. But is this Fair Trade? Does it really create an alternative to the current trade system? I don’t think so.

Even slave owners who treated their slaves well, were wrong to own slaves. Let us not continue the colonial system with corporations as the new royalty but work towards a fair and democratic economy with the benefits distributed to the many.