Fair Trade Policy
by Catherine Gordon
Douglas Meeks, Professor of theology at Vanderbilt University, has written a paper, “The Economy of Grace and the Market Logic,” in which he discusses the ancient sense of what the word “economy” means. He states,
“Economy” is found throughout the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) and the New Testament and the phrase oikonomia tou theou (the economy of God) is central and decisive for the biblical speech about God. Economy in its ancient sense is about access to what it takes to live and live abundantly. Up to the 17th Century, to pursue economy meant to pursue the question, “will everyone in the household get what it takes to live? Will everyone survive (sur-vivre = live through) the day and, where possible, flourish?” As the arrangement that makes it possible for the household or community to live, economy was bound to community. In fact, it was clear that economy existed to serve community. Economy in the broadest sense meant the relations of human beings for the producing of the conditions of life against death.
He continues:
The fundamental question of oikoumene is whether all the peoples of the earth will be able to inhabit the earth mutually in peace. The United Nations tells us that today as every day 42,000 children will starve to death. They will not have found earth to be home.
In the global community, 854 million people are hungry, more than one in 10 people. In the developing world, one in six is hungry and in sub-Saharan Africa the number is one in three. The real tragedy is that there is more than enough food produced in the world to feed everyone; but the systems and structures that have been set up to produce, sell, buy and store food do not function to feed the world’s hungry.
In the global economy, trade is a key factor in determining whether and how a person has access to food. Over the past 30 years, there has been a focus on export agriculture and a push to open markets. Countries in the developing world have been required to stop supporting their own agricultural production and remove trade barriers. This has caused millions of small farmers to become disempowered and impoverished as subsidized food from wealthy markets inundates their countries and undercuts their livelihood, as happened in Haiti with the rice industry. These small farmers cannot compete with the lower-cost subsidized imports from the stronger economies. As small farmers become destitute, the profits of large corporations increase and agribusinesses consolidate their control over the food system. Developing countries are now more than ever dependent on the global market.
In the 2004 World Alliance of Reformed Churches’ Accra Confession, the member churches critique the current global system as a:
… global system that defends and protects the interests of the powerful. It affects and captivates us all. Further, such a system of wealth accumulation at the expense of the poor is seen as unfaithful to God and responsible for preventable human suffering and is called Mammon. Jesus has told us that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. (Luke 16:13)
What can we do?
Alternatives to current trade rules can make a difference. “Fair trade” rather than “free trade” can help eradicate poverty and make the world a better place. Fair trade can allow small farmers to survive and compete in a just trading system. Fair trade rules can also support fair wages, workers rights, women’s rights, indigenous peoples and environmentally sound practices. One way trade can be fair is by promoting food sovereignty — the right of a country to determine its production and consumption of food, and to exempt agriculture from global trade regimes such as the World Trade Organization and other free trade agreements.
While these problems may seem far removed from day to day life, there are many things you can do to help locally and nationally. You can support local farming by buying produce from farmers markets and other local stores. Nationally, you can urge your Members of Congress to reevaluate harmful trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The free trade agreements, with proper revision, can include provisions to support the livelihoods of small farmers and ensure that all have access to sufficient food.
The Colombia Free Trade Agreement will likely face a vote early next year. The 218th General Assembly passed an overture opposing this agreement and expressing its grave concern about the ongoing human rights situation in Colombia. The agreement will favor only a small sector of Colombia’s large industrial farmers who export to the United States. Overall income for small farmers would most likely decrease significantly, undercutting and impoverishing them as happened in Mexico, where 1.3 million farmers have been displaced since NAFTA. Farmers forced off land will add to Colombia’s 3.8 million internally displaced people — now second only to the Sudan — and disproportionately impact Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities.
The Washington Office will keep you informed about the Colombia Free Trade Agreement and other trade issues where you can make a difference by advocating with your Members of Congress. A good resource for trade information, Just Trade, comes from the Presbyterian Hunger Program.
The Moral Crisis in the United States
by Leslie G. Woods
What has brought us to this point in our history? People are suffering — not only those whose investments are endangered in the market but people who have lost their homes (or are at risk), those who have lost their jobs, those who have lost their ability to meet their financial obligations and those who are unable to conduct their normal business. No doubt, greed was one of many factors that drove us to this point; but the reality of growing inequality in the United States is too pressing to take time to play the blame game.
As Mary Ellen McNish, General Secretary of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group, noted when commenting on the current crisis, “the turmoil on Wall Street is not just a financial challenge but a moral one.” She notes that the gap between rich and poor is widening and that inequality is at its highest level since the Great Depression. Statistics on the economy speak for themselves. This year, the United States has lost 760,000 jobs (as of October 3), food banks and homeless shelters are so overwhelmed that they are turning people away, millions of households face winter without heat as government programs are starved for funding and more than a million families have already lost homes to foreclosure in the last two years.
In thinking about how to address these serious and growing gaps in well-being and financial security in the United States, we must be guided by the principles that have always led the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in discerning just economic policy. For nearly a century, the Church has identified human worth, the common good and equity as guiding principles for economic life.
In the midst of the grief of the Great Depression, the General Assembly urged the nation to put the value of “human worth” ahead of “money-making and self interest.” In more current language, we might call “human worth,” human rights. Although the words “human rights” typically bring to mind the right to live free from molestation and violence, economic human rights are also spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). They include the right to food, clothing, housing, health care, education, a living wage job and financial security in old age, sickness and unemployment. The United States was an original signer of the UDHR, but today these challenges are not being met. Any solution to this crisis must remedy the inequity of human rights in this country.
Materialist culture and pursuit of personal gain have largely precipitated the growing inequality in the United States. The situation cannot be reversed using the same principles. Solutions for this financial crisis must serve everyone in the economy, the common good, not only those at the top. The rescue bill Congress has passed may help — it is too soon to tell — but the souring of the economy is hitting everyone, especially at the lowest income level. Protection of the vulnerable — the unemployed, workers, homeowners, renters, small business owners and small investors — is essential.
Without question, people on all sides of unethical lending practices are at fault in causing this crisis —greedy lenders, unscrupulous brokers, excessive borrowers; but more than a particular group of people, it has been a set of policies that have allowed greed, speculation, exploitation of vulnerable people and dishonest practices to take hold in the lending and credit markets.
Recent Presbyterian General Assemblies have focused on the very relevant topics of just housing policy and usury, the charging of exorbitant interest. Both issues are integrally linked to a financial crisis that was precipitated by the bursting of a housing bubble brought on in part by usurious lending practices. Effective measures are required to address and alter such behavior, to discourage unscrupulous lenders and educate borrowers to make good financial decisions. Moving forward, a stronger role for the public sector is needed to instill a new sense of equity for people at all income levels in our financial system.
The first attempted solution is a $700 billion rescue bill that — with time to work — may restore stability to the constricted credit market and sluggish liquidity in the banking system. But even if the initial effort does shore up the market, millions of people will be left out. There are additional policies that could follow the rescue bill and do more to address the principles of human worth, common good, and equity.
The crisis is primarily spurred by faulty mortgage securities, with people unable to afford their mortgage payments. So, we must address the root cause — ensure universal, accessible housing for people in the United States and prevent predatory and abusive lending practices that take advantage of naïve borrowers. Home ownership is not appropriate for everyone, but safe and affordable housing (owned or rented) is the starting point for helping people climb out of poverty. The 218th General Assembly (2008) affirmed that the Church is called to “challenge society to provide safe, decent, accessible, affordable and permanent housing for all persons who cannot secure such housing through their own means.”
Americans are struggling with more than housing costs. As unemployment rises and the cost of necessities like food and gas skyrocket, people are forced to choose which bills to pay. Health care costs are also rising, increasing in 2007 by twice the rate of inflation. Even people with insurance find it difficult to pay their medical bills. A recent Harvard study found that 50 percent of all bankruptcy filings were at least partly the result of medical expenses.
People must no longer be crushed under the weight of excessive medical costs that drive them into bankruptcy. The PC(USA) has long supported the establishment of a national medical plan that is equal, accessible, affordable and provides high-quality health care for all persons residing in our nation. In 2008, the General Assembly supported the principle of single-payer health care coverage. Ensuring that all people can have affordable, quality health coverage would be a significant step toward ensuring long-term financial stability for low- and middle-income families.
There are as many opinions about a solution to the financial crisis as there are individuals and families who struggle with it. It is complex, but there is no doubt that people are afraid. We need to enact policies that will lift people up so that the effects of the tightening economy will be loosened. Though Congress has taken an initial stab at pulling us out of the financial crisis, it remains to be seen how this will impact families and individuals at all income levels. Future policies must seek to protect communities and families from the ill effects of the crisis and to shrink this ever-widening gap of inequality. As a new Congress and President take their seats, it is more important than ever to encourage lawmakers to work for everyone, to ensure financial security particularly for low-income families, valuing human worth, the common good and creating equity among us.
The Earth is the Lord’s …
by Mary Anderson Cooper
The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein.
For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. (Psalms 24:1)
In the Book of Job, God describes the interrelatedness of life, explaining that the elements and the creatures within creation each function in their own way, surviving through their own abilities. He does not suggest that one part is superior to another, or should dominate the rest. Job, overwhelmed by God’s argument, falls silent, realizing that humankind is only part of creation, not the center of the universe. His fellow humans have taken a different approach, putting themselves first, believing themselves superior to those with whom they share the earth. The result has been rampant greed, the destruction of species, pollution of the environment and potential jeopardy for future generations.
One obvious outcome of human activity is climate change, with increasing global temperatures and the accompanying intensification of storms, droughts and floods. Another is the rapid increase in the number of endangered species. A third is the continuing threat to health posed by pollutants and toxins released into the environment as a result of human decisions, and yet another is the depletion of natural resources such as water, land, trees and clean air in the pursuit of wealth and gratification of human desires. These issues are interrelated, all operating at the same time. Inevitably, the burden of all of these failings falls most heavily on those least able to bear it, the vulnerable, who rely most on their local environment to meet their needs and whose options for relief are few.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported in 2001 that the global average temperature will rise between four and six degrees Fahrenheit in this century unless there is radical reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Scientists tell us that a rise of only one degree in the recent past has already caused increased flooding and droughts, more severe storms, and the melting of glaciers and ice masses worldwide.
These changes have forced massive movements of population as people who depend on farming for their livelihoods and to feed their families are forced from drought-ravaged homelands to seek more fertile terrain. Others are made refugees by flooding that destroys their modest homes, poisons farmland and kills crops.
The melting of the polar ice caps forces polar bears to swim further and further in pursuit of sanctuary and food, often drowning because they become exhausted as the distance they have to swim between ice floes grows. Humans are also affected, as the melting raises water levels so that nearby land areas wash away or flood, leaving less arable and habitable land, destroying businesses and homes along the water’s edge.
A study just released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature reports that 25 to 36 percent of all wild mammal species in the world now face extinction because of habitat destruction and overharvesting. The figure rises to 79 percent in the case of primates. The study, conducted over a five year period in 130 countries, covered all of the nearly 5,500 wild species identified since 1,500. Land mammals are being destroyed through hunting, loss of habitat and starvation as a result of droughts, while marine mammals lose their lives to pollution, ship strikes and being caught in fishing nets.
The Supreme Court is currently considering a case in which groups seeking to protect whales and dolphins have challenged the U.S. Navy’s right to use sonar technology in training exercises conducted in areas where the giant mammals are present. They contend that recent episodes where whales and dolphins have become disoriented and died after beaching themselves were caused by exposure to sonar.
Throughout its history, the United States has gradually taken steps to safeguard its environment, after an industry or a product has been proven to have a negative impact on health. When the burning of dirty coal and the use of asbestos were found to cause illness, measures were enacted to reduce the amount of those substances in the air. The health damage caused by tobacco products has been lessened by anti-smoking bans. But the pollutants being poured into the atmosphere by industries and by personal behavior continue to rise. Office buildings with their huge cooling and heating plants are a major source of contamination, but the construction of truly “green buildings” is such a rare phenomenon that it makes headlines when it happens.
Cars and trucks contribute vast amounts of pollution, but the right to own and drive vehicles when, where and how they wish is regarded by drivers as infinitely precious. The failure of federal and local government in the United States to invest in mass transit only compounds this situation. Yet, we know that people can and will reduce their driving when the cost is high enough and that many will purchase fuel-efficient cars if they have the right incentive.
The recent dramatic increase in fuel prices has focused public attention on how interrelated various elements of society are, including ones that may not seem connected. Rising fuel costs are expected to increase the cost of driving or heating a house; but they also raise the price of food, clothing, home repairs, and most products needed to sustain life since the price of nearly everything we use includes costs to transport it.
Change in self-absorbed human behavior is possible; there is recent proof. Soaring gas prices have caused people to reduce their driving without a major loss to the quality of life, by planning ahead, consolidating trips and using public transportation. Even this small sacrifice contributes to protecting the environment, as do recycling and replacing incandescent light bulbs with energy-efficient fluorescents, cutting costs and pollution.
Change is both possible and essential; but plants, animals, air, water and vulnerable humans are subject to the behavior of powerful people, institutions, corporations, and governments. It is they who must commit to the protection of the creation if it is to survive in a way that allows all to flourish and rejoice in the abundance around us. We must compel them to make that commitment.
Introducing Presbyterian legislators
Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.)
Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), the first former welfare mother to serve in Congress, is in her eighth term as the Representative from California’s 6th District, just north of San Francisco. Her district includes all of Marin and most of Sonoma County.
A member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congresswoman Woolsey believes that ending the Iraq war must be the beginning of a complete re-evaluation of U.S. national security policy. She has proposed the Sensible Multilateral American Response to Terrorism (SMART Security) which puts an emphasis on peaceful resolution of international conflict. SMART would keep Americans safe through stronger global alliances and improved intelligence capabilities, as opposed to pre-emptive military strikes. SMART calls for the United States to live up to its nonproliferation obligations, and includes an ambitious humanitarian development agenda to address the hopelessness and oppression that give rise to terrorism in the first place.
As the chair of the Committee on Education and Labor’s Workforce Protections Subcommittee, Representative Woolsey oversees policies that affect millions of American workers. On the Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee, she is working to reform the No Child Left Behind Act, to fund the law fully and make it more flexible and less punitive toward schools and school districts.
Ecumenical Advocacy Days — Enough for All Creation
March 13-16, 2009
Registration for Ecumenical Advocacy Days is now available online. The program will focus on how the world’s abundance can be allocated to address concerns regarding climate change, immigration and migration and poverty. Religious advocates and activists will gather in Washington D.C. for worship, briefings, workshops, advocacy skills training and visits to Congress.
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