Dump Poverty, Not Rice.

          It is so simple to take our lives for granted. As we worry about our projects, getting homework done on time, doing well in our sport, or whether or not that oh so special someone is going to notice us today, we fail to notice things outside our immediate surroundings, for example, how in the rest of the world people are suffering on a much greater scale than we could ever comprehend. But as students with immediate responsibilities, we get lost in the thought of “how could I a (18-21) year-old help change the world?” We are so small by ourselves, but together we can really make a difference. Two and a half years ago I found out how.

         I was listening to my Coldplay Live 2003 CD when Chris Martin-via my stereo- told me to “Please look at make trade fair dot com, please eat more chocolate and please listen to more Coldplay.” I noticed “Make Trade Fair” on his piano, and his equal sign tattoo on his hand. Intrigued, I did just as he said. Soon, I found myself submerged in a website with so much information I could not believe my eyes. I printed out many documents to learn as much as I possibly could. However, it was not until my senior year of high school that I became a pro. Our huge paper/debate to pass high school was called pro/con, and I got to debate “Is free trade fair?” and that is when I became the most educated on every source of information Oxfam had to share, as well as books written on the topic. Needless to say I won the debate by a landslide, and hopefully after reading this article, you will see why.

          Oxfam America, is a branch of Oxfam International: a non-profit relief organization that fights to help end global poverty and injustice. Oxfam runs campaigns such as the Make Trade Fair campaign, supported by celebrities such as Chris Martin of Coldplay, Colin Firth (Love Actually, Bridget Jones’ Diaries), and Alanis Morrisette. They also run the Control Arms, and Heath and Education For All campaigns. In this article, I will be primarily focusing on the Make Trade Fair (MTF) campaign and how easy it is for you to help.         

          A common mistake is that people think Free trade and Fair trade are the same thing. Alas, it is quite the contrary. Free trade today has kept millions of people in poverty. Rich countries such as the U.S. and the U.K. take advantage of free trade. In fact, the Bush Administration pays millions of dollars in subsides a year to large government owned/supported farms to overproduce products such as corn, wheat, and rice. Those overproduced products are then “dumped” on poor countries and sold for extremely cheap prices. “That’s great, though, isn’t it?” you are thinking. No again, unfortunately because the farmers who rely on selling those products cannot compete with the low prices, and are forced to live off of $1 a day to feed their entire families. Also, small farmers in our country are not getting nearly enough funding to keep up with the large farms-which have much better equipment-and small farms across the US are dying out. The Farm Bill, which is renewed every several years, has a lot of provisions in it which is allowing for this to happen, as the government has found “loop holes” to continue the subsidies/dumping process. The Farm Bill will actually be renewed by the end of this year.       

          In addition, The World Trade Organization was created to monitor trade and create rules including all leaders. However, the developed countries’ leaders usually bribe the poor countries into agreeing with rules that help the rich countries, and keep the poor in poverty. The third world country’s leaders are easily bribed since the leaders usually feel like they have to take what they can get from developed countries. The World Trade Organization has said about those who cannot compete in poor countries that they should just quit and get jobs in factories, but reality shows that there are simply not enough jobs in factories for all of them. If someone grew up farming, loves farming, is good at farming, then they should not be forced to do something else because of unfair trade rules and practices. The United States tries to create the illusion that they help those in poverty, but for every dollar the U.S. gives to Africa in aid, they take away two dollars in unfair trade rules.

          What is the overall message you ask? The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, but it does not have to stay that way. You can go to OxfamAmerica.org and sign up for what is called the “Big Noise Petition” this is an update Oxfam sends in email about once a month telling you what they are working on. In this email, they also provide a chance to sign an online petition, all you have to do is click the link and fill out your name and address and any comments you would like. They have a box you can check to save your information, and then when you click links to petitions in future emails, it will fill in your information for you and all you have to do is press send! It is so easy! The petitions are then presented to the World Trade Organization and developed countries when they are about to make important decisions that can affect the lives of people in poverty. Oxfam always updates you on whether or not the petition worked, and it is a great feeling of accomplishment when it does.

          I know we are all poor college kids, but you can also donate to Oxfam, and the money goes in an emergency relief fund. In the past two months, this emergency relief funds has send $100,000 dollars to the town of Panabaj in Guatemala, which a year an a half ago was destroyed by Hurricane Stan and left hundreds of families without the resources to earn a living. This $100,000 went to help small coffee farmers rebuild, since the hurricane destroying land and coffee plants, set them back three to four years. Oxfam shows on their website how they are also helping South Asia-which the U.N. states were destroyed by floods that were the “the worst in living memory”, affecting 30 million people in Nepal, Bangladesh and India. “Millions of the poorest have lost their homes, their possessions and their livelihoods,” Oxfam states. However, Oxfam is providing temporary shelters as well as essential water equipment.

          You can learn about Oxfam, the Farm Bill, and Make Trade Fair campaign by going to Oxfam.org, OxfamAmerica.org, or Maketradefair.com. Oxfam America also has a Philadelphia Chapter in which I am involved where you can learn more about campaigns, get together and write to local heads of government about the Farm Bill and other issues, as well as volunteer at local shows educating people about the Make Trade Fair campaign. I ended up working at a Coldplay concert and Warped Tour with Oxfam, and it changed my life to talk to people in the US who live on small farms in the U.S. and told me how much they have been affected by the U.S. Farm Bill. You too can get involved. If you are interested or want to learn more, please come to the Kanbar performance space on Monday October 8th at 6:30pm where I will be holding an Interest meeting for an Oxfam/Make Trade Fair group on campus.

If you have any other questions or want to know more information I could not fit in the article, feel free to email me at Dunn8626@philau.edu.