Al Jazeera America Fault Lines: Made in Bangladesh Video. Children as Young as 12 Are Making Clothing for Old Navy in Bangladesh

I found these two videos today on ecouterre. They blew my mind when I took a minute to watch them.

It was clothing for Wal-Mart’s Faded Glory brand that was being made when the factory in Rama Plaza in Bangladesh collapsed. Still the families who lost lives have yet to be compensated.

Go Behind the Scenes in Bangladesh Garment Factories and see how Wal-Mart evades accountability for their cut-throat business practices. 

Thanks to Al Jazeera  America’s latest edition in Fault Lines – holding the world accountable.

It's not only Wal-Mart. It's Old Navy, it's everyone else doing business as usual. Watch this short 2.5 minute video and see why Awaz is working to do something different.

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/2013/8/inside-a-bangladeshclothingfactory.html

Help Workers stand up against Wal-Mart. Learn more about the Making Change at Wal-Mart Campaign.

and don't forget to fuel the change....shop ethical clothing.

World Fair Trade Day May 11, 2013 in Portland - Rocks the TPP with Oregon Fair Trade Campaign

SATURDAY May 11, 2013 is the day this year!

WFTD is the largest Fair Trade event of the year in N. America, and events take place May 4-19 in 2013. Around 100,000 people attend hundreds of celebrations to promote Fair Trade and campaign for trade justice together with farmers & artisans. LEARN MORE >

{ONLINE SHOP SALE} 

anyone who buys online this Saturday gets a
 FREE box of Equal Exchange Organic Fair Trade Tea
 and a gift from India!

SHOP NOW >

This year, AWAZ joins with our local advocacy partners here in Portland to oppose the next biggest Free Trade Agreement on the International Day of Action. It's because of FTAs that create the foundation and rules for Corporations to exploit workers and the environment around the world, that the Fair Trade Movement, what I call, the People's Movement, is so important. We need to change our foreign policy today.

THIS Saturday, May 11th, join the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign and many other organizations for World Fair Trade Day and the People's Assembly on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The event is from 1-4pm, (doors open at 12:30pm) at First Unitarian Church (SW 12th Ave and Main St., Portland), and will include speakers from a variety of groups, as well as break-out sessions to do some action planning. This is an international day of action, held in solidarity with groups all over the world as the current round of TPP negotiations take place in Lima, Peru. 

AWAZ will have a table selling goodies and passing out FREE Fair World Project Publications for a chance for YOU to win a FREE trip to Peru!

On May 11, just prior to a new Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiating round in Peru, we call on the 99% who are harmed by corporate globalization to oppose the TPP.

There are many reasons for people to come together on this date:

- The TPP undermines access to fundamental medicines by extending monopoly protections for Big Pharma.

- The TPP empowers corporations to sue governments for environmental and health measures they do not like

- The TPP creates a race to the bottom on working conditions, environmental standards and all kinds of public regulations

- The TPP prioritizes large-scale corporate agriculture (GMOs, antibiotics, etc) over sustainable local farming


We will hear from guest speakers including Barbara Byrd - OR AFL-CIO and Ann Pickar - Portland Area Global AIDs Coalition, Benjamin Gerritz - Positive Force NW, and Peruvian environmental justice leader César Ipenza, from Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental speaking via Skype. The speakers panel will be followed by break out groups to further discuss issues and plan for next steps.
We will join trade justice advocates in Lima, Sydney, Ontario and many more cities and towns around the world that are holding community assemblies to discuss the problems with the TPP and the free trade model.

Multi-national community resistance put a freeze on the WTO. It stopped the Free Trade Area of the Americas. It can stop the TPP!

RSVP on Facebook! 

For more information on the PDX People's Assembly, please call Oregon Fair Trade Campaign (503) 736-9777 or email elizabeth@oregonfairtrade.org,

Sponsored by: Alliance for Democracy, Oregon Fair Trade Campaign, Oregon AFL-CIO, Jobs with Justice, Working Families Party, Economic Justice Action Group of the First Unitarian Church.

To learn more about events in other communities visit: http://stopthetpp.webs.com/call-to-action

seed funding for Social Entreprenuers | Start Something that Matters : GOOD Maker Challenge

handcrafted solar energy by HESCO for rural mountain communities in the Himalayas, one of AWAZ community partners

Thousands of social entrepreneurs around the world are making it happen, just like the Awaz founder, Sarah, did.
Enter for the chance to propel your idea of changing the world into a REALITY. The Start Something that Matters GOOD Maker Challenge will grant one social entrepreneur $50,000 to launch their plan for driving social impact. Could it be you?
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Stop the TPP, the next biggest Free Trade Agreement - Organizational Sign-On Letter on the TPP & Fast Track

 http://stoptpp.org/

This just in from our local organizer.

Please join us in putting your organization's name on this list and circulating this to your networks.

It's FTAs like this that create the rules for economic injustice and allow companies to continue to exploit workers and the environment. 
Sarah

~~~~~~~~~~

Hi Friends,
We have only two weeks to get hundreds of organizations to sign onto this letter opposing Fast Track, a tool the Chamber of Commerce in D.C. is pushing for to make it easier to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Please bring this to your unions, churches, organizations, and more to sign onto!
Thank You!

Elizabeth Swager
Oregon Fair Trade Campaign
www.OregonFairTrade.orgOrganizational Sign-On Letter on the TPP & Fast Track

Please add your organization's name by Sunday, March 3 at: http://tinyurl.com/tradeletter  

Email info@citizenstrade.org with any questions.

Dear Member of Congress:

As U.S. trade negotiators seek to conclude a standard-setting new trade and investment pact for the Asia-Pacific region by this October and consider launching another with the European Union, we write on behalf of our combined XX million members and supporters to share our expectations regarding commercial agreements in the 21st Century and the congressional oversight role needed to transform past U.S. trade policy into a tool that helps build a more just and sustainable global economy. 

We find it troubling that, even as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Free Trade Agreement enters its 16th major round of negotiations this March in Singapore, U.S. negotiators still refuse to inform the American public what they have been proposing in our names.  Shielding not only proposals, but agreed-upon texts from public view until after negotiations have concluded and the pact is finalized is not consistent with democratic principles.  In this regard, the TPP appears to be even less transparent than some past trade negotiations.  For example, in 2001, the United States joined with 33 other countries in releasing draft text of the Free Trade Area of the Americans, and draft texts within the World Trade Organization are frequently made available.  

Issues that must be addressed so that a TPP, a European Union-U.S. Agreement or any other U.S. trade pact actually improves the quality of life for Americans and people throughout the world include:

• Prioritization of human and labor rights.  Too many existing trade policies go to great lengths to protect the rights of investors, while ignoring or glossing over issues of forced labor, child labor, sweatshop working conditions, political violence, environmental degradation, violations of indigenous peoples’ sovereignty and government suppression of such basic freedoms as speech, assembly, movement and the rights to form independent trade unions and bargain collectively.  Human and labor rights must be front-and-center in any trade agreement if it is to help reverse the global race to the bottom in working conditions and environmental practices.  

• Respect for local development goals and the procurement policies that deliver on them.  Trade agreements should not impede governments from spending taxpayer funds in ways that prioritize local development, environmental or social goals.  The procurement provisions of trade pacts must maintain existing “Buy American” preferences, as well as prevailing wage requirements, green preferences, sweat-free preferences, human rights preferences and policies designed to address long-standing inequalities.  

• No elevation of corporations to equal terms with governments.  Trade agreements should not grant individual corporations and investors special powers to privately enforce agreement terms by challenging laws, regulations and court decisions through tribunals that circumvent domestic judicial systems.  The “investor-state” tribunal system that allows panels of three private sector lawyers to order unlimited taxpayer compensation for foreign firms who claim that a country’s laws undermine their expected future profits must be eliminated.  International investment rules must also be revised to more narrowly define terms including “investment,” “expropriation” and “minimum standard of treatment” in order to safeguard the ability of governments to regulate in the public interest.  

• Protect food sovereignty.  Trade agreements should respect governments’ ability to implement programs that ensure farmers and other food workers receive fair compensation and that consumers have access to safe and affordable foods.  Likewise, nations must be able to protect themselves from dumping and other unfair trade practices that force farmers off their land.  

• Access to affordable medicine.  Maintaining access to affordable, generic medications is critical to reducing health care costs in the United States and to saving lives throughout the world.  Trade agreements are an inappropriate vehicle for extending the length of drug patents, and U.S. policies should explicitly uphold the standards set forth in the Doha Declaration on access to medicine.  

• Safeguards against currency manipulation.  Trade agreements should include measures that allow the United States and other governments to take measures to counteract trade-distorting currency manipulation.  Agreements should also include strong rule of origin provisions to ensure that the benefits of the agreement go to those countries that agree to meet its rules.

• Space for robust financial regulations and public services.  Trade pacts should set floors, not ceilings, when it comes to the regulation of banks, insurance companies, hedge funds and other financial service providers.  Trade agreements’ services provisions should contain clear and specific language stating that nothing in the agreement should be interpreted as requiring deregulation or privatization of any private or public service.   

• Improved consumer and environmental standards.  Likewise, trade agreements should set floors, rather than ceilings, when it comes to environmental, food and product safety and consumer right-to-know measures.  

We believe a much greater degree of public and congressional oversight is needed if the TPP and other pacts are to achieve these high standards.  Before granting the Obama administration any special trade policymaking authority, please request that it make the draft TPP texts public.

Instead of delegating Congress’ exclusive constitutional authority to “regulate commerce with foreign nations” to the executive branch through the reinstatement of outdated and extreme procedures like Fast Track “Trade Promotion Authority,” we urge you to support a new American trade agreement negotiation and approval process that:

• Requires that Office of the U.S. Trade Representative consult with all interested stakeholders, participate in hearings with all committees of jurisdiction over matters affected by trade agreements and provide a thorough and public assessment of what specific job creation and export expansion opportunities each prospective trade partner would provide and how a proposed agreement would impact human and labor rights, the environment, food sovereignty, access to medicine, currency manipulation and balance of trade among the countries involved — beginning this expanded engagement process with the TPP as soon as possible;
• Sets up an objective process to verify that negotiating objectives set by Congress are actually achieved in the final agreement; and 
• Includes a process by which a majority of the Congress must vote to certify that a proposed agreement is in the public interest and that Congress’ negotiating objectives have been met before the executive branch can sign the agreement and bind the United States to its terms.

Only through this type of robust oversight and public participation can we forge a new national and global consensus on trade policy that works for all.

Sincerely,

[YOUR ORGANIZATION & many others]

January 23rd - Jubilee Oregon announces an educational event: "A Matter of Fairness: Ending Vulture Funds and Preventing Student Debt."

Jubilee Oregon, one of our local community partner organizations working on economic justice issues is offering a great training that will highlight the local and global debt struggles and provide solutions.

 

Two topics will be discussed that seem unrelated but have, at their root, similar issues of economic fairness and justice.  The first topic is the case study of Argentina's debt and of how hedge funds are trying to squeeze Argentina to repay loans that they purchased during Argentina's economically distressed time in 2001. These hedge funds are known as Vulture Funds. The second area is about economic injustice in our own community and country -   students who have amassed huge student debt under false pretense and who will be saddled with unsustainable debt for the rest of their lives. We will discuss alternatives to the current systems that could prevent this large debt issue and some stop-gap ways that the system could be changed today to lessen the impacts of unsustainable student debt. This will be an interactive and action oriented event. 

Date: January 23rd from 7 pm - 9 pm

Place: the Whitman Room at First Presbyterian Church, 1200 Southwest Alder Street in Portland

Free parking in the church parking area. 

To RSVP or for more information, contact Jubilee Oregon 

at jubileeoregon@gmail.com

Jubilee Oregon is a chapter of the Jubilee USA Network, a non-profit advocacy organization that is dedicated to reducing poverty in the world. 
We focus on the cancellation of odious and illegitimate debt that many developing nations face, thereby freeing up financial resources to serve their their own people.  We work for the establishment of responsible lending and borrowing practices in the global economic system today.

  

Keep Nestle Out of the Gorge: Water Privatization in Oregon at risk

Portland’s activist community is joining for a rally this Tuesday, the 26^th to oppose Nestle from taking over Oregon’s water resources and building a water bottling plant in Cascade Locks, located on Oregon’s most prized river, the Columbia River Gorge.

Keep Nestlé Out of the Gorge Coalition including Food & Water Watch, Bark, Sierra Club, Oregon AFSCME, Occupy Portland, Sisters of the Holy Names, Resources for Health, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Environment Oregon, Oregon Wild and thousands of Oregonians have been leading a two-year campaign raising awareness and putting pressure on Oregon Governor Kitzhaber to deny Nestle permits to build the facility.

Water is a public resource shared by all Oregonians and should not be made into a commodity, privatized and made out of reach by the majority. Furthermore, building a large bottle water facility in the scenic Columbia River would destroy the local ecosystem and further allow corporations to profit off of depleting natural resources, exacerbating climate change. 

It’s kind of amazing that this is even happening and it’s pretty important that individuals take a stand to protect our environment from corporate take over. They’re not going to stop unless we take action. Oregon is slowly at risk of losing its natural resource base with proposals like this and other current developments like transporting coal exports from Montana through the Gorge too. Read up on this too and get behind Portland’s community organizations fighting against coal.

As a native Oregonian, I am proud of the Pacific Northwest’s leadership in environmental stewardship and conservation. However, I am more and more appalled at the contradiction of the ongoing development I see inside the city limits, struggling public education system over 50% dropout rate, excessive corporate interests in public entities and support for a facility that will flood our communities with plastic water bottles! 

We’ve got a long way to go for Oregon to be a leader in social, economic and environmental equality - our policies and institutions need to be challenged and held accountable.

NESTLE GORGE TAKEOVER 101

The people at Reddit.com/ Portland explained the situation quite well, need I not rephrase the debate: 

 “Nestle has proposed to build a water bottling plant in the city of Cascade Locks, tapping over 150 million gallons of water each year out of Oxbow Spring. The spring currently feeds a fish hatchery and is also a critical habitat for threatened steelhead. They would then replace the spring with municipal well water which would involve another new infrastructure to treat and cool the replacement water. Nestle would be paying less than 1/5 of a cent per gallon for the water, making a 1500% profit to sell it back to local communities. In addition, the corporation has already stated they will not be responsible for the local infrastructure and will require a 10 year tax break. Local taxpayers will be footing the bill for pipes, not to mention the roads that will be destroyed by 200+ trucks in and out of the Gorge each day. Nestle is the largest food and beverage corporation in the world, with a long list of corporate crimes and they want to take advantage of a community that is down on it's luck. They promise to bring 48 jobs to the area, but the average water bottling plant employs only 24 people in low wage, dangerous jobs.”

My comments:

Just like with Free Trade Agreements, tax breaks for corporations deplete the state’s tax base for social and public services. This is why governments are cutting funding for education, art and everything else they’re suppose to provide to the people. The 1% who profit so much off of the 99% are continuously reaping benefits and not paying for it and the common good suffer. I believe incentives to corporations like this are unjust and should not exist.

Just like the Army and our defense programs, corporations prey on rural communities and struggling cities to set up shop and use their power and prestige to lure, exploit and take over. I lived in a small town in Southeast Kansas in which Wal-Mart built and moved three times, each time building a larger Supercenter and cutting out local business. This small Midwestern town is pretty much a manufacturing hub and distribution center with workers for Amazon.com and Boeing. Now most people just work for the Chemical Plant and Refinery that bought out half the town and built up alongside the African-American communities across the railroad tracks on the east side of town.

It’s sad how communities and ethnic groups are marginalized, divided and preyed upon by those with power. I believe that it is these attitudes and values reflected in actions by corporations and our government bodies which perpetuate classism, racism and division amongst people today. This division continues to lead to violence, war fare and crimes against women, people and the environment. These themes are relevant to many global issues we are facing today.

You can see similar linkages in Portland Central America Solidarity Committee Awaz supported campaign to get Wells Fargo to divest from funding the corporate prison system, which perpetuates racism and creates profits off of immigrants and people of color. READ MORE.

PERMITS AND APPEALS

According to the Keep Nestlé Out of the Gorge Coalition website, in 2010, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) filed an application with Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) to exchange its spring water with the City of Cascade Locks so that the city could sell their water to Nestlé.

On February 29^th, 2012 the OWRD approved two of the three necessary OWRD permits for the Nestlé Water Bottling Plant and initiated a 30-day protest period for public appeal of the permits.

Bark and the Keep Nestlé Out of the Gorge Coalition took action and appealed the approval of permit applications. While any member of the public can protest the permit, many individuals have identified that the fees for filing such appeals are prohibitive, with each of the two permits requiring a $600 filing fee and additional hidden costs associated with seeing the protest through.

Governor Kitzhaber has the power to advise the OWRD to deny the water exchange application

that would give away Oregon’s water so that Nestlé can bottle it.

Read more details here for further explanation.

It is the State’s job to safeguard Oregon’s public resources, especially our precious water resources for the benefit of all Oregonians, not multinational corporations. Allowing the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) to move forward with this water rights exchange would permit a state-owned resource to be used for a private business model that is unsustainable,” said, Jackie Dingfelder, Oregon State Senator for District 23. 

Food and Water Watch Oregon organizers have been actively involved in spearheading this campaign in Oregon. As an advocate for safe and healthy food and water policy, the national organization works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainably produced. They currently are working on reforming the Farm Bill, which is in charge of agricultural subsidies to farmers.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

My favorite is this pdf they developed titled:

Water=Life: How Privatization Undermines the Human Right toWater

Water Privatization is not a new issues – it’s happening and has been happening worldwide.

Click here to learn about Bolivia's water take over.

Blue Gold - an excellent film about the world water wars in the U.S. and around the globe.

Nestle's long list of unethical behavior on Corporate Watch, from chocolate to breast milk.

Keep Nestle Out of the Gorge Rally!

Tuesday, June 26th at 4pm

Terry Schrunk Plaza
Southwest Madison Street and 3rd Ave
Portland, OR

We need to tell Governor Kitzhaber: Either you stand with Oregonians or you stand with Nestlé!

WTO Seeks to Change Labels to "Made in the World"

I recently came across an article on The Huffington post about proposed changes to WTO regulations about how a product is labeled. If the changes are made, country of origin will no longer be printed on tags, but will instead say "Made in the World".  It is really disturbing how much unregulated power the WTO has to change trade/labeling rules. According to the WTO, "This new database allows trade analysts to have a better view of the global value chains created by world trade. These added-value chains have become an essential feature of our economic reality as trade is becoming increasingly globalized and today’s traded products are not produced in a single location but are the end-result of a series of steps carried out in many countries around the world."

If the new labeling changes took place, there would be even fewer barriers to companies putting exploitative factories in place. There would also be less accountability for companies, who could easily skirt certain regulations and rules. By not placing a country of origin, and no other explanatory labeling or oversight, we open ourselves up to harmful products. "This Initiative could have dire consequences for America's manufacturers and consumers. For manufacturers, it could eliminate one of the options allowed by the WTO -- filing a charge for product "dumping" against another country to have countervailing duties applied against that country. For consumers, "Made in the World" labels wouldn't allow you to protect your family from the tainted, harmful, and even life threatening products coming from China. You wouldn't be able to support saving and creating jobs for other Americans by buying 'Made in the USA'. "

I would be most concerned about the lack of oversight about products made harmfully, either for the producers, the consumer, or the planet. If a product has a "Made in the World" label, we can have no way of knowing if a product was hammered together outside of a nuclear waste factory then painted with lead paints in China. I am exaggerating, but I fear the reality might not be far off. If certain modes of production are cheaper from one country to the next, companies will gladly and quickly move them accordingly. And these are concerns for consumers in the US and other countries.

The Huffington Post article focuses on the harms this new system would have on Americans, but what about the artisans and producers we rely on for our commodities? They are the most vulnerable population, and should be considered. Americans have more freedom and opportunity than most to educate themselves about their products, where they come from, and to make decisions on which product to buy -- for example, purchasing a fair trade scarf rather than one from Walmart.

Globalization is changing business models and increasing fragmentation of production. Companies divide their operations around the world, from product design, manufacturing, to assembly and marketing, creating global production chains. More and more products are "made in the world" rather than in any particular country. Today's traded products are not produced in a single location but are the end-result of a series of steps carried out in many countries around the world. For example, cars and trucks produced by General Motors or Ford may have parts and assemblies coming from several other countries, including China.

 The above quote is absolutely true. Most products that you buy in stores are made in several different countries, so the company can maximize profit by moving the production line across country borders for the cheapest mode of production. The new label would encourage this even more, since companies would not be hindered by customs labels or rules.

However there are organizations that aim to preserve the production chain and keep things transparent, which is a solid tenant of Fair Trade organizations and agencies. One in particular is called The Fair Tracing Project, which aims to "support Ethical Trade by implementing IT Tracking and Tracing Technologies in supply chains to provide consumers and producers with enhanced information. Digital tracing technology enables each individual product to be both given a unique identity and tracked throughout the value chain from producer to consumer. The information that may be attached to such a “tagged” product is virtually limitless, beginning with details of the product’s date and cost of creation, as well as its individual creator and his/her working environment and pay, through the various steps of its transport to the eventual point-of-sale to the consumer."

Fair Trade Proof Index is another organization committed to a transparent production line, and have set a up a system for every consumer to trace their coffee!

Keeping oneself educated is one of the most important things we can do, especially if that education informs our shopping decisions. The power of the almighty dollar is strong! Continue to support those companies whose values align with yours, and who keep producers in mind when creating new products.

This is an interesting topic, and we welcome your opinion! Drop us a comment here, or on our facebook page!

Also, make sure to support the Northwest Fair Trade Coalition's Fair Trade Directory, to make sure that supporting fair trade in Portland is as easy as can be! Our goal is for fair trade to be as accessible as possible for all members of our community!

Fair Trade Third Thursday -- Special Night with Dr. Bronner's and Fair World Project!

Join Dr. Bronner's for May's Fair Trade Third Thursday: May 17, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

1033 SE Main St.

At the next Third Thursday event, Dr. Bronner's Soaps will show a short video about their work and discuss why fair trade is an important part of their business model.

ABOUT Dr. Bronner's.  Dr. Bronner's products include all-in-one soaps, lotions, lip balm, and fair trade-certified coconut oil.  The representative from Dr. Bronner's will be discussing their long line of fair trade body care products, which are must-haves for any fair trade advocate. The company's focus is on sustainable, fairly traded, organic body care products that tout 18-in-1 uses! The "magic soap" can be used for at least 18 different things, including body wash, pet wash, laundry soap, house cleaning solution, deodorant, toothpaste, and so much more! Be prepared for an awesome presentation, and even some great samples of this magic soap!

We will also be joined by Dana from The Fair World Project! This is an excellent publication that we always have at our table for you to take home. The FWP's mission is to "promote organic and fair trade practices and transparent third-party certification of producers, manufacturers and products, both here and abroad. Through consumer education and advocacy, FWP supports dedicated fair trade producers and brands, and insists on integrity in use of the term “fair trade” in certification, labeling and marketing."