About this blog
Who is ‘The Other’? ‘The Other’ is all those people that form the connected network of our lives.
In the Global Peasant Movement, ‘The Others’ are all those all those “Others” who seek the empowerment of small farmers and their communities throughout the developing world.
Our intention is build and share our understandings of those “Others” (what they think and why they think that way) to reveal new pathways to a more socially, environmentally and economically just future.
In writing ‘The Other’ my aim is:
- to challenge conventional explanations for success– its not about self advocacy and positioning, its about our capacity to understand and engage ‘the other’
- to provide insights and ideas for sustaining success in peasant directed agrarian reform – to think reciprocally and practice other-discovery (refer ‘The Reciprocity Manifesto’)
- to be a force for the development of unified voice – the greatest threat to a fairer global future is infighting, discord and disunity among those who ‘believe’.
Enjoy the Ride!
The ‘GOOD’ Dr
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Scott I would like to know more about the relationship between fair trade and reciprocity, meaning how these concepts tie together and how you think reciprocity might be introduced to the trading regime in a practical sense?
From a legal point of view international trade is a very complex area of law, the major problem with it, like other areas of international law, is that countries are only bound to in principal to international instruments that they choose to sign, they are hard and costly to enforce and enforcement relies upon international judicial bodies (unless the parties have agreed to a choice of jurisdiction clause which nominates a certain countries laws as governing the agreement). It is not unfortunately as simple as passing legislation that nominates that trade be conducted on certain terms (such as fair or sustainable) because both trading parties would have to have such legislation in their respective countries. Live animal export has generate some press recently and it might be worth reviewing that to see what the trading nations responses (legal or otherwise) were. Maybe that is more ethical trade but it certainly highlights the difficulties present.
Of course the other problem with ‘fair’ trade is that it often passes the costs onto the consumer, ethical farming for example often has higher costs that other types of farming methods and it would appear to me that fair trade relies on the consumer to advocate the need for fair trade practices in the first instance. Fair trade might be more about changing consumers preferences which then in turn will necessitate fairer terms of trade. Perhaps the challenge there is to look at how reciprocity might be introduced as a framework that allows consumers to make choices that have reciprocal benefits – here thinking of reciprocity as a term similar to sustainable, ethical etc. Sustainability has clear reciprocal elements (what is in the interests of nature are in our interests generally).
Do you think sustainable trade might be similar to the concept of reciprocity and is it necessary for reciprocity to stand alone or do you think the theory behind it might be transplanted into an already popular concept such as sustainability?
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for your comment. It is a bit difficult for me to answer your question as I am not actually suggesting that there is a direct link between fair trade and reciprocity…what I am arguing is that…
1. Developing successful fair trade partnerships are fundamental to a successful fair trade future.
2. Understanding the principle of Reciprocity and applying its associated practice of Other-Discovery is fundamental to sustained partnership success (Refer: ‘The Reciprocity Manifesto’)
…as such I seek to offer the perspective that…
3. Reciprocity can be considered fundamental to a successful fair trade future!
Stephen…this is how I see Reciprocity and Fair Trade tying together.
TGD