 
Trade: Free doesn't mean fair
Imagine a game where one of the teams gets to write the rules and if they don't work very well for them they can change them to make sure that they win every time. Too bad if you happened to be on the other team! This is what it is like for many of the poorest countries in the world. For example, how are developing countries supposed to
compete in the 'free' market for agricultural products when the rich countries of the world subsidise their farmers by $1 billion every day?
 
Opposition mounts to free trade deal with US
The proposed free trade deal with the United States has everybody worried: some say that the deal will allow corporations to sue governments, while others fear that cheap cigarettes and expensive medicines are a likely outcome of the talks between Australia's John Howard and the US President George Bush – Bob Burton, Inter Press Service (IPS)
Putting the brakes on free trade
Catholic priest, Fr Michael J. Gillgannon, has been living in Bolivia since 1974. From his perspective in La Paz, he says that 'free trade' is simply economic colonization – National Catholic Reporter
Coldplays for Justice
Coldplay's Chris Martin had the words 'make trade fair' written both on his hands and on his piano during the band's recent Australian tour – SMH, Andrew Hornery with Jonathan Pearlman
 
Good Busy-ness
Markets can be unfair, mostly because people bring unequal bargaining power with them to the market. Being fair – or at least fairer – implies that something has to be put right, says Pauline Tiffen – New Internationalist Magazine
 
Countdown to Cancun
On 12 September, Cancun is to host the fifth World Trade Organisation meeting. It will be a rare opportunity to alleviate the poverty of the world's poorest nations. But War on Want's Ruth Somerville has doubts – www.oneworld.net
 
 Working for the kingdom
Fair trade is about justice for people - the people who work the land and produce the goods for others to enjoy. Oxfam, like Caritas Australia, is a charitable organisation committed to justice and peace. This site shares with us the stories (or "parables") of individual growers and farmers who overcame some of the injustices of the global marketplace. See also
International Federation of Alternative Trade, which represents traders in 50 countries and is the only organisation to represent the whole Fair Trade chain from production to sale.
 
Prayer for a change
Torn shirt, no shoes,
My brother.
Hungry, he touches my heart
and I ache to understand, to see,
to feel, to reach,
to share his life,
his laugh, his dance.
I even drink the coffee that he grows,
And smell the flowers he picks,
My brother.
Lord,
May his hunger change my heart. – Cafod
 
About Us: Tong Tana - The Lost Paradise SBS TV Friday August 1 8.30pm
How do you ensure a good logging deal in Malaysia? Get onto the country's biggest logging company owner - who also happens to be Malaysia's Minister for the Environment. Big money, free trade and the destruction of the local Penan tribe in a film by Bruno Manser.
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