@joannafairtrade
Trade justice campaigner - supporting social and fair trade enterprise - working with cocoa farmers in Ghana via The FIG Tree https://fairtradecentre.org/workshops-2/ Was Ranavalona111 on the other place
Both my Grandmas worked - I remember them both retiring. The biggest difference is they didn't have careers. They worked to provide but their main focus was meant to be their husband and children so the job was just a means to an end rather than something fulfilling you could build your identity on
Cocoa prices were ridiculously high for a couple of years and the farmers didn't benefit because they were given the government price. Now prices have dropped below the government price and the companies won't pay it
Any way you slice it the farmers are screwed. Awful.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
This morning I did a scary thing I have never done before. I made chocolate with 58 ten year olds. I have done this before a few times, always with another more experienced person but nobody was available so I had to do it on my own.
It's important to challenge yourself into your 50s.
Russian and Belarussian athletes weren't banned from competing at the Olympics and Paralympics because of the invasion of Ukraine, but because of the institutional drug cheating at the Sochi games. #WinterParalympicsOpeningCeremony
This is one of the best things I have ever read
I hope this 8 year old continues to rage against the dying of the light
I cannot stress how much you need to stop buying from this company
At this point there's no excuse. You know what you're buying is actively harmful to your fellow human beings. If you must go to a multinational use eBay and choose a UK based small business
Workers' health trumps your convenience
Fundamentally misogyny underpins everything for these awful people so marrying a woman from a group they despise is not a hypocritical position. They think it's normal to hate their wives, and that marriage is about exercising power over them.
Thanks - that's helpful. And we can add to that payments to private providers of things like social care and asylum accommodation
My friend Susan told me she was doing a fair trade stall at the weekend and someone from another church said to her "I thought they'd moved Fairtrade to September".
Remember kids, fair trade is for life, not just for Fortnight
#FairtradeFortnight
I would definitely add "payments to landlords/ private service providers" because I think this figure would be instructive
How Much I Dislike the Daily Mail I would rather eat Quavers that are six weeks stale, blow dry the man bun of Gareth Bale, listen to the songs of Jimmy Nail, than read one page of the Daily Mail. If I was bored in a waiting room in Perivale, on a twelve-hour trip on Network Rail, halfway through a circumnavigational sail, I would not read the Daily Mail. I would happily read the autobiography of Dan Quayle, 1001 Things You Can Do With Kale, selected scripts from Emmerdale, if it meant I didn’t have to read the Daily Mail. Far better to stand outside in a storm of hail, scratch a blackboard with a fingernail, be swallowed by a humpback whale, than have to read the Daily Mail. If I was blind and it was the only thing in Braille, I still would not read the Daily Mail. Brian Bilston
Today’s poem is called ‘How Much I Dislike the Daily Mail’.
And were actively courted by the Leave side, suggesting that reducing EU immigration would pave the way for more Commonwealth immigration.
I have adored Desiree Burch for years and tonight finally got to see her live. It's always nerve wracking when you see a comedian live when you've only experienced them on radio and TV but it was a complete joy.
Highly recommended particularly if you're a woman from your late 30s to early 50s
I'm still nervous before delivering a talk, especially one like today's on a new topic (global food security) in front of a knowledgeable audience (Climate Action Preston)
But finally 40 years after that first negative feedback I have received enough positivity to know I'm allowed to speak up
I suffered from situational mutism for years at school and university. I was virtually silent. All because that examiner told me I was bad at speaking. (Admittedly not helped by my Dad constantly telling me to cover my mouth because my teeth stick out)
I've done five talks this week - two primary school workshops, a primary school assembly, and two talks to groups of about 25 adults in Rochdale and Preston.
When I was 13 my school forced us all to take English Speaking Board exams which I passed "But only just" I came 29th out of 30.
Of course Reform didn't think Muslim women would have voted Reform if their husbands hadn't strong armed them into voting Green.
It's that they think Muslim women shouldn't have been allowed to vote at all
Or if you have completed the whole of your secondary education in the UK you become eligible for ILR / citizenship at 16 or 18 when you leave school? I think most people would agree once you have navigated the British school system for 5+ years and have UK qualifications you've integrated fully
Reform's complaint about the Greens seems to boil down to "S'not fair. They've got more than one policy and they explain their policies to people they think might agree with them.That's cheating!"
I know politics has changed but isn't that what political parties are supposed to do?
In the end it wasn't even that close.
A victory of Hope over Hate.
I used to drive through both Gorton and Denton every day when I worked in Manchester city centre and lived in Hadfield. These people desperately need hope.
Congratulations Hannah and well done on a positive, energetic campaign.
So I won't engage with people who imply (and sometimes outright accuse) fair trade retailers of profiteering off the backs of workers. You're looking in the wrong place. Go after the 99% of global trade that's not even trying to pay people fairly.
Long term partnerships with artisan groups mean there's a mutual trust, and prices are agreed that suit both parties. If you buy from the person who made the thing, without having to pay middle men and sell direct into shops at a reasonable mark up so they can make a reasonable mark up everyone wins
Unless you know how far £1 goes in every region of every country, knowing how much someone in another country earns doesn't help you. £1 generally goes further in India than Peru. Rent on a flat in Ghana is £350 for 2 years payable upfront. But short supply chains help.
The harder question - usually not asked in good faith - is "So how much do they get paid?" which as a retailer is impossible to answer. I know how much I paid my supplier (and I don't have to tell you what that is) but I have no idea what they paid the makers. And that figure is meaningless anyway
As fair trade campaigners we regularly tackle the "Why is it so expensive?" question. That's easy - because we pay people properly for their skills and experience and don't take advantage of the relative power imbalance between someone in the majority world and someone in the global north
The Mersey isn't that far away either - it runs underneath Stockport town centre - but the Tame is definitely the closest
In my experience most people who start a #socialenterprise do it because of a burning desire to make a difference but there is still a need for it to function as a sustainable business. The wonderful people at Junction Point have developed a course to help
hub.junctionpoint.co.uk/level-2-star...
Today I received the best compliment I think I have ever had. I was doing a talk to a group in Rochdale and one of the gentlemen said my presentation style reminded him of Victoria Wood.
High praise indeed
Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown as President of Ghana in a military coup d’etat backed by the US and the UK on 24 February 1966.
So instead of stirring up hate, why not work out how to share hope? Why use aid for military hardware when it could be paying for toilets or books or seed?
Britain has a responsibility second only to Belgium to African ppl. Britain enslaved & shipped countless ppl & sent them to other colonies etc