| January 2008 |
Volume
1 Issue 3 |
 Just
Change
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Our views, news and more !! |
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Editorial: Notes from Gudalur Whenever we speak of the Just Change concept, especially in the UK, someone or the other pops the “F” question – how is this different from Fair Trade? Aren't they both trying to get a better and fairer price for producers? We thought it might be a good idea to generate some disucssion and debate within our Just Change circle – hence this short article. Fair
trade has allowed people to make ethical decisions that were hitherto
only controlled by the 'market'. It has gradually
become a
large worldwide movement accounting for upto 5% of total sales of
particular products like tea, coffee and chocolate.
The Fair trade labelling organisations have said that the total sales crossed $2 billion in 2006, accounting for a 42% year by year increase.
Despite this double digit growth in the last few years, Fair Trade remains a niche player, covering less than 0.5% of the total sales of all commodities world wide. A reason for this is because fair trade organisations worldwide have focussed on the creation of a brand within the existing market system. Fair trade has to jostle for space within the current market, amongst companies who make different claims regarding their products: 'organic, locally grown, ethical, eco-label, energy efficient' and so on, all tending to target a very similar kind of ethical informed consumer. While this has greatly enhanced the profile of FT, it has not greatly changed the power structures of the market. By appealing to consumers as individuals, companies are able to strengthen their hold in the market. By selling a “fair trade” line, like Nestle claimed to do through their "Planter's Blend” of coffee, not only do companies retain their market share of “non-fairtrade products”, they are able to extend it to control those consumers who want to see justice in the marketplace. |
NEW on the JCUK website is the Volunteers pack and Buying & Selling Tea! Click here to try out the new links
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Just Change, on the other hand, seeks to take back control of the market. To address the imbalance of power, between an ill defined “market force” on the one hand and powerless producers and equally powerless consumers on the other. Just Change aims at re-establishing the power of producers and consumers, to recognise that by working together THEY are the market force. It attempts to do so by creating direct trading links between producer and consumer communities.
In the context of India where most agricultural commodities are produced by different communities, it is possible for one group to buy products from another that produces that they need. A coffee growing community in the Nilgiris would be able to sell their coffee to coconut growing farmers in Kerala. Currently, some products that are sold within the JC network are sourced from the open market as we have not linked with producer communities that produce these products. However, when our network grows large enough, it will be possible to source all commodities exclusively from a producer group that has agreed to standards set by the whole company. The ultimate result will be that communities create their own market. Producers and consumers do not need to buy or sell their products to an undefined and faceless market, but can have producers producing exactly what a community wants and trading at a price that is negotiated and agreed upon by both the buyer and the seller.
In current markets, the producer and the ultimate buyer of a commodity are separated by several layers of intermediation. While many supermarkets claim to buy directly from the producer, consumer communities cannot decide on what terms the purchase is made. Nor do they have control over the market chain: this is lost the minute the commodity is sold to the supermarket. Consumers communities are producers of other products, so the element of mutuality ensures that they treat other producers as they would like to be treated. While the JC concept in India currently works in the agricultural sector, it is entirely possible that other countries might innovate and use it more in the service sector: exchanging different services among different communities. Just Change aims to be a fundamentally different market system, where people control markets for mutual benefit. Where communities form the centre of market decisions.
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While
Fair Trade tends to work with communities at the producer end but with
individuals at the consumer end, Just Change is a network of BOTH
producer and consumer communities. The decision to participate in the JC network is made by not just an individual, but by a community and
hence is not a decision that needs to be examined every time a purchase
is made.|
The end of last year saw a significant technological switch at Just Change. We moved to free software. This is not just a move from one
operating system to another. It reflects our desire to use common
property
 resources in the technology space. Free software emphasises
the need to create systems that are developed, managed and owned by
the community, intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change
all versions of a programme. The emphasis on freedom, community
ownership and common property resources makes the link between JC and
free software obvious.The operating system that we use is Ubuntu (a flavour based on GNU/Linux) as opposed to proprietary operating systems like Windows and Symbian (that powers many mobile phones). For office applications, we use openoffice.org which is comparable to other alternatives in the market. We still have a dual boot system however, as most of our accounting data has already been entered on software that is not yet Linux compatible.
We
learnt how the free software movement began after the privatisation
and enclosure of the UNIX code that had been developed over time by
hundreds of people all over the world. The founder of the movement
Richard Stallman (popularly called RMS) disagreed with the idea of
enclosure and created a copyleft license that would keep software
free and open to all. Programming code could be used and modified
extensively, but the code itself had to be publicly available. In
other words, it had to follow a GPL (General Public License) method
of licensing.
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On
Sunday we had a day off to visit Ooty and the Mudumalai wildlife
sanctuary where we saw lots of elephants and wild boar. Then, we
drove across the border to Nilambur and Calicut in Kerala. We visited
the women of Bhoodhan Vikas Mandal and SAWARD. They are members of
micro-finance federations. We told them about our Self-Help
Cooperatives where we lend out our savings to other members of our
group, so we don't depend on any bank. We took a boat across the
Chaliyar river to meet the JC group in Nilambur. They made us a
traditional Kerala lunch of tapioca and chutney. In Calicut, we saw
the coconut oil, soap making and note-book making units run by the
women's groups of SAWARD. We met the Village Consumer Society of
Mundakal, saw their shop and learned about their accounting and
finance systems. JC helps them source rice and spices from producer
groups around Madurai in Tamilnadu.|
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