What Fair Trade Is All About And Why It Matters For Our Future

Documentary

52 minutes
English / French
2000

Martine BOUQUIN , Jean LEFAUX

Zarafa Films , La Sept Arte , Les Films du Village

What Fair Trade Is All About And Why It Matters For Our Future

The gap between the rich and poor countries in the world has drastically widened. For the past fifteen years, some men have decided to take action to struggle against this phenomenon of exclusion.

Being aware that the charity system is too limited, they have set up the framework of a new market system. They have thrust themselves into the ” fair ” trade adventure: paying the producers a fair, worthy and steady price.

Mascao chocolate, made from Bolivian raw material, is a typical example of this new kind of trade: in less than ten years ElCeibo- an organisation of little Bolivian producers- has been able to build a factory and therefore become self-sufficent. The creation of independent labels, like Max Havelaar, has given a new extent to fair trade by including it into the system of mass marketing. Since then fair trade has kept on growing.