Delicate earthtone pottery reminiscent of ancient museum pieces line the shelves. Decorated with zigzag lines, triangles and spots depicting the rainforests and the riverines of Amazonian Ecuador, the small bowls and mini-containers are part of an ancient tradition of pottery-making by the Quichua women of the Amazon. Next to the bowls and containers is a picture of a Quichua woman making the pottery, and a placard describing the destruction of their land by foreign oil and lumbering companies. Because their land is ravaged, the placard says, indigenous people are forced to leave the rainforest and find another way to live. As a result, traditional pottery making has also been threatened. As women leave the community, there is no one left to pass the skill down to the next generation. Women's groups have formed to save the dying tradition by teaching the craft in communities where it is no longer produced.
In San Francisco's Noe Valley, there exists a little corner of the world where rainforests are being saved, poverty is being eliminated and the disabled are employed and do not have to depend on begging or charity. In this world, the rich do not get richer and the poor do not get poorer.
Colorful tapestries from India and sequined wall hangings from Haiti deck the walls of the Global Exchange Fair Trade Craft Center on 24th Street at Sanchez. The small store provides a wall to wall trip around the world. African bridal veils share the shelves with handwoven baskets from Zambia and Guatemalan purses and vests.
The fair trade policy advocated by Global Exchange, a non-profit alternative trade/human rights organization, gives Third World artisans a chance to make a fair wage. "Our goal is to get them [the artisans] to achieve self-sufficiency," says Kevin Danaher, director of public education for Global Exchange. "They've got the energy and creativeness to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, but they need bootstraps. Then they can go on their own."
Part of Global Exchange's mission is to educate Americans about what's going on in the world. "Our bottom line is that bad foreign policy rests on a foundation of ignorant people," says Danaher. To get the word out, they distribute books, pamphlets and newsletters and speak on radio shows and at other public forums. To make the word real, they sponsor "reality tours" to Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Cuba. The reality tours allow participants to see first hand how other people live and what issues they face.
Global exchange was formed in 1988 by Danaher and Co-Directors Kirsten Moller and Medea Benjamin. They set up the organization to promote the work of the burgeoning "bottom-up globalization movement," which consists of organizations committed to human rights work, fair trade, socially responsible tourism and socially responsible investment. The movement is an alternative to the traditional "top down globalization" espoused by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Danaher argues that current trade policies promoted by the World Bank and IMF affect Americans just as much as their Third World neighbors. When U.S. companies move their factories to Third World countries to keep the wages down it sends stagnation into the world's economy. "If all these companies are able to drive wages down, that's more profitable. For a company, wages are an expense. For us, it's a livelihood."
Danaher says that 20 percent of the world's population consumes 80 percent of the world's resources. "We're about redistribution of wealth downward." One way of distributing wealth downward is by providing a wage that's fair. Determined by the craftsperson, the wage is based on cost of the materials and reasonable compensation for their time and ability, according to Alison Field, fair trade director of Global Exchange. The gifts, which are somewhat more expensive then you would find in other stores, run anywhere from $5 to $100. Generally, an artisan can expect to receive about 44 percent of the retail price. A hat in the Guatemalan marketplace going for $3 sells in the Global Exchange stores for $22. "The reason they're willing to take $3 for it is that they have three hungry kids at home and if they get $3, they can buy beans," says Field.
When Field managed the Global Exchange store in San Francisco, (there are stores in Mill Valley and Berkeley as well) some shoppers were incredulous at the price of their items. "Somebody would walk by and they'd pick up a hat and say, '$22! I could buy this for $10 at the flea market!'" She'd chase after them and explain the amount of hours it took to make the product and how much it cost for the materials, shipping and customs. "What do you think the craftsperson is getting? Do you think that's fair? Do you know that your dollars have a voice and it really does make a difference how you spend them?'" she'd ask.
Next to each display is a placard that explains how artisans achieve self-sufficiency. Mary Ann Sargent and Deborah James, co-managers of the San Francisco store, can tell the story behind almost every handicraft in the store. The colorful vests and purses made by a Mayan weavers' co-op in Guatemala called "A Thread of Hope," was started by a group of widows who turned a small crafts project into a thriving business employed by hundreds of women. Some of their proceeds provided running water for their community and a building for the weaving co-op. Tapestries, scarves and purses made in Bombay by "Share" are produced by disabled and disadvantaged people, many of whom are lepers and widows whose only income came from begging. "Their block printing can be done by a person with no fingers but who can grab on to a block of wood that is carved and put into some ink and stamped onto the fabric," explains James. "They don't have to be dependent on charity because they are producing something and can have input into the designs."
Many artisans are contacted through established markets and agents. Some hear about Global Exchange through magazine articles or through their reality tours. Different issues are taken into consideration when making the decision to do business with artisans. Some choices are whether the group is democratically run and ecologically sensitive. Field says that equality, fairness and mutual respect, things that make trade relationships more equitable, should be just as important as making a profit.
Pier 1 Imports, a chain of stores based in Fort Worth, Texas, carries products similar to the Global Exchange Fair Trade centers. Steven Woodward, a furniture buyer for Pier 1 Imports, says that every company is interested in making a profit for their stockholders , but that they feel they can make a responsible profit. "We would never do business with a factory that used prison labor or children," he says.
Pier 1 is more aware of these things because they see people working first-hand when they visit the factories, according to Woodward. "If I go into a factory and I see that the workers don't have protective masks on when they're spraying polyurethane-a lot of companies probably wouldn't care that much as long as they're getting "product"-but we really do care, and make a big issue of those things, and tell them if they don't do things for the benefit of their workers, we won't buy from them."
Women of Khemera (pronounced camera), in Phonm Penh, Cambodia, are assisted in establishing businesses and in marketing their products. Khemera was started in 1991 by a Cambodian refugee living in the United States who wanted to teach women in her country business and production skills so that they could support their families. In an article written by Katharyn Wardle published in Global Exchanges spring 1995 newsletter, Wardle explains that landmines left in the Khmer Rouge have diminished the land available for growing rice. "The women of Khemara are taking control of their lives in the face of many difficulties," she writes. "Including their unsure future in a politically volatile Cambodia."
Wardle is a consultant to Khemera's business program and a Global Exchange volunteer. A display of multicolored silk pillows, slippers, wallets, picture frames and backpacks lay next to a picture of a Cambodian woman weaving silk at a loom, and a picture of a boy who has gotten a new artificial leg. Next to the pictures is a placard describing Khemera's business program, and the thing they have accomplished for their families and their country.
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