Do the Branded Ethical Products Such as Fair Trade Contribute to Social Exclusion - Research Paper Example

SOCIAL EXCLUSION: DO THE BRANDED ETHICAL PRODUCTS SUCH AS FAIR TRADE CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIAL EXCLUSION' The mere mention of fair trade elicits a negative reaction from the excluded societies especially in the third world societies. Even if fair trade's intent is, described as to deliberately work with the marginalized producers and workers to help them move from a position of vulnerability to security and economic self-sufficiency. Ethical products have been established after a long fight against economic injustices committed by the rich countries against the poor countries. Much of the development that Europeans boast of come about during the Agrarian Revolution, where raw material were getting shipped to European industries. Slave trade was a trade too; it took a long struggle to fight slave trade which is still yet to be completely eliminated from the word according to the United Nations report. During the last century blacks from Africa were considered to sub human beings in the American society. In the recent there have been reports of industries releasing their waste into the rivers. Reports about nuclear waste dumping in the wrong areas have been rampant in the media especially in the last decade. From 1950s up 1970s the United States federal government was burying nuclear waste plutonium in Idaho. According to National Geographic News April 12, 2002, Snake River aquifer may be leached into by the buried plutonium waste. Snake river which is about 25000 square kilometers provides dirking and irrigation water for large population (Mayell, 2002). The diamond trade in Liberia that later turned out to be called the bloody diamonds because of fueling the civil war in Liberia and Sierra Leone during the last decade. The late Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo - DRC) was a darling of the west because of the resources that were plenty in the Great Lakes region. One component of fair trade is corporate social responsibility also called corporate citizen ship where the interests of the society take the first place by the organization taking responsibility for the impact of activities by the company or organization. on communities , customers, employees or suppliers. One of the biggest companies that has hit headlines on corporate social responsibility is the Microsoft company with the Melinda and Bill Gates foundation. The foundations' global development program has been trying to assist people get out of poverty and hunger by creating opportunities for them in Agriculture, helping small farmers to improve crop production and market access. They have been working with partners to help the poor societies get access to financial services, which are only available to only a few in African societies. While recognizing internet and computers as drivers of economic and social progress, the foundation has assisted with access to these tools and professional skills, search for work, conduct business on-line, access government services and exchange ideas with others (Melinda & Bill Gates Foundation, 2008). Other areas where the banded ethical products are Not geared toward social exclusion but inclusion are the global health program of the Melinda and Bill Gates foundation whose mission is to encourage the development of life saving medical services and help in access the existing vaccines against the common deceases in developing countries. By assisting in research toward the development of drugs against malaria, tuberculoses and HIV amongst others, it shows a sure sign that it is committed to improving the quality of life for the marginalized societies and the grater society as well. It is through the development of the ethical products such as the fair trade that the organizations for preventing the exploitation of the producers for commodities like coffee emerged. A system that allowed people recognize the products that certain standards (labor or environmental) put by an independent body which issues certifications. In the United States it called Fairtrade certification. It sets standards for minimum requirements that producers of certain goods must meet before they are certified. There fair-trade standards for the disadvantaged producers like coffee farmers and hired labor work situations. For example safety standards requirements in hired labour, and that there must be no forced labour or child labour. In commodities such as coffee fair-trade guarantees price, where the cost of production in covered, such that there is a minimum price while selling price might be higher depending on the market value. According to Fairtrade.org (2008), one way that it assists farmers is to enable them access the international markets and to develop business capacity to compete in the global marketplace.. One example of such a move by United States government in the recent years was the legislation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in May 2002 by the United States Congress to assist the economies of sub-Saharan Africa access the American market. This has enabled the growth of textile and apparel industries in a number of African countries. Provision of technical assistance by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to AGOA eligible countries to enable them meet US sanitary standards has helped them benefit from the legislation. Much as the opponents of fair trade fight it, for it to survive; to find relevance in fighting social exclusion, it has to focus on alleviation of poverty at all levels. It has to be accountable and transparent. According to Steven Suranovic of the international theory and policy, many individuals are in favor of fair trade. He asks what does the concept of fairness mean. Because there are arguments for and against globalization both incorporating the idea of fairness (Suranovic, 2001), but everyone is in favor of fairness, while each one has a different idea of fairness. So the concept of fairness needs to be approached from all perspectives. The societies should be enlightened about the opportunities available to them while reforming the unfair laws of trade while creating opportunities for marginalized producers to benefit. Producers' independence needs to be nurtured to have a stake similar to 'Fairtrade pricing' that puts into consideration the cost of sustainable production. Social exclusion Do really these branded products still contribute to social inclusion' The answer that would come from a third world marginalized perspective would be no. This is because fairness depends on which side your looking at the issue of trade. For example the citizens of western countries want maximum returns from their work, their companies their businesses. Even locally most ethical products are just geared to projecting just a good image of a company: Many companies have been involved giving support to charities yet none would be mailing to take a protracted struggle to alleviate these problems once and for all. Critics of ethical products see most ethical products as public relations offices in a companies or institutions, created only to project a good image of an institution. Proponents of fair trade argue that exchanges between developed nations and lesser developed countries (LDCs) occur along uneven terms, and should be made more equitable (mercy corps, 2005) which should be reformed. According to fairtrade.org particularly in the field of trade, Eisenberg asserts 'the law of the strongest is the only law'. In Africa, Asia and Latin America both male and female craft men, farmers know all about this. If they can not free themselves from the grasp of numerous middlemen and buyers, who from their positions of power prescribe the lowest of prices, they will remain slaves of their circumstances their entire lives (Eisenberg, 2005). This is an admission that the idea of equality and empowerment of the marginalized societies to become stakeholders in their own organizations cannot brought about easily. Even the idea of fair trade itself is vague. An example is give where a company wants to pay workers at a price that could be agreed upon. Would a fair price be higher or a lower one' If it is higher the workers getting jobs would live better lives they would be happier we suppose, if they were paid at lower wages more workers would benefit. The Globalization which is seen by some as global capitalism, where the rich still dominate the market to the exclusion of the poor, is hard to be seen as fair by every one. Business thrive by maximizing their profit, this is the principle on which businesses are established. As some countries have experimented with different ideologies to bring about equality, socialism, and communism; it never worked it was like sharing poverty. These were environments that business would not thrive the way it did in capitalistic societies. One example would be Sudan's oil export to China. While human rights activists have been drumming to get attention of the world to see what has been happening in Durfur and southern Sudan: the human rights abuses abound. The Chinese government only interest is to 'quench its thirst' for Africa's natural resources without regard or concern on who benefits from the sale of oil and gas. This is where free trade becomes fair trade. With the world becoming a global village and the strong economies advocating for free trade while overriding all other ideals of ethics. Or rather the rich nations would be wailing to 'dumb' their substandard products in the developing countries markets while consuming the better finished products. In the recent years there have bee demonstrations during the Group of eight industrialized nations (G 8) summit in Seattle, Washington, Genoa - Italy and Davos - Switzerland. These protesters some of whom have been against the World Trade Organization (WTO) point out that it is not democratic because it does not advocate for the interest of the worlds workers, like Malaysian, factory workers or Chinese farmers. (Bad Press Broadside, 2000). From the voices of these protesters, we get to see how fair is fair trade. The digital divide puts the third word countries at a disadvantaged point. It will take a will take long before the third world countries establish laws to govern cyber transactions which are part of modern business. Machines for doing business with credit cards are expensive to buy. Buying goods from Europe would be impractical since some on-line stores do not deliver to Africa except in South Africa. Fighting cyber crime is challenging because of the 'underdevelopment' of technology. Combating white collar crime will always be a challenge; people will still find loop holes in the primitive technologies of third world countries. All this makes it hard for our third world societies to have fair trade or make ethical products of greater use to bring about equality. The media is part of our society; it is like the medium with which we see the society. We get news about what is happening in different parts of the world at certain times. We get to see information about different products that we need. With all this media, playing its role in the society to inform, to build awareness with in our society, we fail to see the media as an institution on its own. Like An institution in businesses trying to survive like other businesses when it grasps 'the tools of trade' which is the attention, it is hard to realize when you are getting influenced by the media in the wrong way. Our family members get influenced in the clothes they wear, the kind of jokes they crack , or even the walking style they use. All the same the importance of the media can not be under estimated for it is through the same media that awareness of our rights, availability of opportunities in business or charity, and even that is how we get to know about the people in need and come to their help. Whether there ethical products involved or not the media is one thing that bring us to inclusion in terms on news. In advertising different commodities are associated social classes at times kids from a poor family may cry for something they see on the market stall after watching it with other kids on television. One example if this can be seen in the 1990s promotion of Nike shoes by the basket baler Michael Jordan. Every other boy from the neighbor hood would want to be like Michael Jordan. Bibliography African Growth and Opportunity Act - AGOA (2008). Retrieved from the World Wide Web on April 20, 2008 at http://www.agoa.info/ African Growth and Opportunity Act (2006). African Growth and Opportunity Act - achieving success through the African Global Competitiveness Initiative. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on April 20, 2008 http://www.agoa.gov Bad Press Broadside (2000). Free Trade is Fair Trade. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on April 20, 2008 www.world.std.com/'bbrigade/badpbsd3.htm Fair Trade certified (2008). Retrieved from the World Wide Web on April 20, 2008 http://www.transfairusa.org/ Fair Trade (2006). Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on April 20, 2008 http://www.fairtrade.net Ferraro, Vincent (1996). Dependence theory: An introduction. Massachusetts: Mount Holyoke college. Mayell, Hillary (2002). Idaho, U.S. Battle Over Nuclear Waste Dump - National Geographic News. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on April 20, 2008 at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, (2008). Global Health. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on April 20, 2008 http://www.gatesfoundation.org/GlobalHealth/. Steven M Suranovic (2000) A Positive Analysis of Fairness with Applications to International Trade: The World Economy. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on April 20, 2008 http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9701.00274 Read More