Vote with your dollar
Erin Benson, Coordinator of Faith and Justice Programming
Issue date: 11/24/08 Section: Perspectives
Have you ever thought about the people who have grown, transported, or made what you buy? This is an important question to consider, particularly as a person of faith. We just finished the election season where, hopefully, people took great time and care in deciding how to vote. Ideally, we spend money with the understanding that it is another type of vote in what and who we support.
It probably wasn't until a boycott during my college experience, that I began to look at my own purchasing practices. There were flyers on tables about boycotting companies like The Gap and Nike due to sweatshop labor. I then looked into the issues and decided not to support those companies due to the economic exploitation of their workers. The classic example of conscious consumption is fair trade coffee. There's a danger in thinking that if I drink fair trade coffee, I am thus saving the world and my responsibility ends there. So I talk about fair trade coffee simply as an example, not as the end all, be all of social justice.
On an immersion trip to Mexico two years ago, I learned that coffee was the number one luxury food item imported into the United States. In other words, it was not a necessity, but rather something that was simply nice to enjoy. Earlier that year, I'd spent time in El Salvador learning about coffee plantations and the importance of fair trade in the difference that it makes for the grower to sustain a livelihood. Knowing that coffee is not a necessity, I still wonder why those who purchase coffee won't also insist on spending the extra money to insist that the growers are treated fairly.
This is where faith comes into the picture. My faith, and I would argue most world religions, places the utmost importance on human dignity. Without humane working conditions and a fair wage, there cannot be dignity. A person simply becomes a means to an end, another part of the machine that creates my t-shirt, my coffee, my shoes. However, if I honor the relationship that I have with those who produce the items I wear, eat, and use on a daily basis, then the good I receive becomes the means to enhancing the relationship with the person who created it. I thus put the relationship before the item. In this sense, how we spend our money is always a vote.
The goal of the Peace Market is to break the trend of unconscious consumption and honor human dignity. The Peace Market provides an alternative to typical holiday shopping. While shopping at the Peace Market, you can learn about the lives of the women in Uganda who make necklaces out of old magazines. You can learn about what the Tinansa Program does in Ghana every other year. You can buy holiday cards that support UNICEF and thus benefit children throughout the world. If you cannot make it to the Peace Market, at least take some time to reflect on your purchases this holiday season. In this economic time, every dollar really does count. What are you voting for with your dollar?
The Peace Market is December 2 and 3 in the Dining Hall and Faculty Lounge of the Student Center.
It probably wasn't until a boycott during my college experience, that I began to look at my own purchasing practices. There were flyers on tables about boycotting companies like The Gap and Nike due to sweatshop labor. I then looked into the issues and decided not to support those companies due to the economic exploitation of their workers. The classic example of conscious consumption is fair trade coffee. There's a danger in thinking that if I drink fair trade coffee, I am thus saving the world and my responsibility ends there. So I talk about fair trade coffee simply as an example, not as the end all, be all of social justice.
On an immersion trip to Mexico two years ago, I learned that coffee was the number one luxury food item imported into the United States. In other words, it was not a necessity, but rather something that was simply nice to enjoy. Earlier that year, I'd spent time in El Salvador learning about coffee plantations and the importance of fair trade in the difference that it makes for the grower to sustain a livelihood. Knowing that coffee is not a necessity, I still wonder why those who purchase coffee won't also insist on spending the extra money to insist that the growers are treated fairly.
This is where faith comes into the picture. My faith, and I would argue most world religions, places the utmost importance on human dignity. Without humane working conditions and a fair wage, there cannot be dignity. A person simply becomes a means to an end, another part of the machine that creates my t-shirt, my coffee, my shoes. However, if I honor the relationship that I have with those who produce the items I wear, eat, and use on a daily basis, then the good I receive becomes the means to enhancing the relationship with the person who created it. I thus put the relationship before the item. In this sense, how we spend our money is always a vote.
The goal of the Peace Market is to break the trend of unconscious consumption and honor human dignity. The Peace Market provides an alternative to typical holiday shopping. While shopping at the Peace Market, you can learn about the lives of the women in Uganda who make necklaces out of old magazines. You can learn about what the Tinansa Program does in Ghana every other year. You can buy holiday cards that support UNICEF and thus benefit children throughout the world. If you cannot make it to the Peace Market, at least take some time to reflect on your purchases this holiday season. In this economic time, every dollar really does count. What are you voting for with your dollar?
The Peace Market is December 2 and 3 in the Dining Hall and Faculty Lounge of the Student Center.
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