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Justice
Justice for all people has, from the beginning, been not only a vision and a goal for our work, but also the force that guided our actions. Early on we realized, however, that we could not say: ‘Here we have a just product for which we pay a fair price.’ We have always used the term justice only with great care. We recognized that what we were trying to achieve had something to do with justice, but was by no means truly justice yet.
My dream
Hunger and poverty are not fate. Millions of wealthy people buy and enjoy goods for whose production people in the Third World receive only starvation wages.
When I speak of justice, it is about changing the living conditions of disadvantaged people. In my dream everyone involved in the production and trade of a product negotiates the prices, margins and costs. In the end there would be no big earners, but also no losers. Everyone would receive what they need.
On the way
Fair trade is a balancing act. It means, especially for small companies like gebana ag, recurring financial bottlenecks and lean periods. It is a long process to create fair starting conditions for all involved. It requires a lot of patience and often cannot do without compromises.
It is important to accept what is unfinished while at the same time encouraging people to act provisionally. For us, the question of the fair price, of fair trade, always remained a process and the question of justice a journey.
Hope
Even if our work for Fair Trade often reaches its limits, it is necessary to continue these efforts. Every step in this direction gives people hope for a fairer world. We consumers are the last links in a long chain and as such have concrete possibilities to effect change.
Much more is still needed: more people, more awareness, more willingness, more knowledge, more commitment and more hope to be able to make a difference, so that greater justice becomes possible. Fair trade is a hope we must never give up.