Dr. Martin Luther King
“We are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s road side… but one day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed. True compassion is more then flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that a system that produces beggars needs to be repaved. We are called to be the Good Samaritan, but after you lift so many people out of the ditch you start to ask, maybe the whole road to Jericho needs to be repaved.”
I have been trying to find out where shops get their merchandise from- like when it says “MADE IN CHINA” what does that mean, or “MADE IN INDIA”, who made it? How much are they making off of the producers? Are they getting treated fairly with basic human rights? Was it made by a child who should be in school? ETC….
I really think these are questions we need to be asking before buying all these gifts every year. Every time we make a purchase we make a statement weather we want to or not, we show who we support and what we support. I really want to challenge you all to find out before you buy, and also look into some of the FAIR TRADE options out there.
The United Nations reported in 1992 that income disparities between the world’s richest and poorest have doubled since 1960. TODAY, the wealthiest 20 percent of the words population receives 83% of the worlds income, while the poorest 20% receives less then 2%! In 1965, the average US worker make $7.52 an hour, while the person running the company made $330.38 an hour. TODAY the average worker makes $7.39 an hour, the average C.E.O makes $1566.68 per hour. 212 times more.
Coca-Cola has been accused of arming it’s factories in Columbia with paramilitary thugs.
Nestle had been accused of mass-marketing an infant formula as a breast-milk substitute to third-world women.
Disney has been accused of maintaining sweatshops in Bangladesh and Haiti.
Gap has been accused of having similar factories in Cambodia and china. These are a few of the companies who continually appear as human rights violators documented by corporate watch groups across the globe. Some, like Gap, have made significant improvements, but usually only after public outcry brought attention to their abuses and they lost lawsuits.
Here are a couple good groups working for corporate accountability and who suggest health alternatives…
www.gxonlinestore.org - this is an online store with gifts for any age, party or event. Even stuff to decorate your home with. Check it out. All of it is FAIR TRADE.
www.puravidacoffee.com - FAIR TRADE coffee, buy it online and be sure the farmers are getting enough to live and continue producing!
www.globalexchange.org - this site gives lots of information for those of you who would like to find out about products, companies and policies.
www.Hrw.org -This is a Human Right Watch sight. There is information, employment opportunities, country profiles, tons of info on this site.
2 comments:
thanks, guys for the alternatives. I've often wondered how a person can NOT buy things that are made by slaves, children, disadvantaged, and those taken advantage of. I will check out those sites, for sure.
No kidding! It seems everywhere is selling stuff from china, etc. It seems inevitable that we buy it, good to know there are a few other choices out there.
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