Tucsonans Hand Out Fair Trade Gifts to AFTA Delegates
by jessica Saturday, Dec. 04, 2004 at 3:47 PM

The fair trade gifts are part of a larger strategy to engage the delegates in dialog about the importance of including worker rights, cultural and indigenous preservation, and environmental protections in AFTA.

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Tucson activists gave out more than 100 fair trade gifts to the delegates from Peru, Colombia and Ecuador Saturday in the attempt to encourage them to push for fair trade in the AFTA negotiations.

Included in the gift baskets were fair trade bananas, chocolate, tea and coffee. Each gift included fliers that described the story of each product. The gift is intended to provide an example of successful fair trade businesses to encourage the delegates to advocate for fair policy in AFTA. Indymedia notes were also included. Much of the food was donated by a local grocery store.

Many of the delegates warmly accepted the gifts and engaged in conversation with the activists on the subject of fair trade, several admitted to being against AFTA. A few other delegates laughed at the delegates and/or refused the gifts.

Later in the day, some delegates who received gifts made an effort to tell the activists how good the chocolate was and some Colombians commented on how terrible the hotel coffee was.

The fair trade gifts are part of the Tucson strategy to engage with the Andean delegates rather than yell, ridicule and isolate them. With minimal security, Tucsonans felt encouraging the South Americans to stand up to the United States would overall be a more affective strategy rather than attempting to shut down meetings in only one round of the agreement talks.

LINK TO ARIZONA INDYMEDIA CENTER INTERVIEW WITH THE CREATER OF THE FREE TRADE GIFTS:
http://noafta.org/newswire.php?story_id=65

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