Justice cont.

What is justice?

Justice concerns the proper ordering of things and persons within a society.

We are to bring this proper order.We are to be bringers of justice

This is active!

It is possible that we are unjust without realising it.

I have just watched a movie called “Black Gold”. It is a documentary that explores the injustice created by the coffee industry. Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world behind oil. Despite the demand for coffee, the large coffee corporations ensure they pay as little as possible to coffee growers. They do this generally by keeping knowledge of trading practices from the growers and giving them no options but to sell at a price that keeps farmers in poverty.
Black Gold looks closely at the coffee industry in Ethiopia, and is well worth you watching (or even buying and giving to friends to watch). It chronicles the stories of farmers who are in generational poverty – poverty that could be reversed if the coffee cartels offered a fair price for the coffee. I think I worked out that it would cost us about an extra 50 cents a cup (at a cafe) to enable these farmers to have a reasonable level of income that enabled them to give an education to their children and sufficient food to eat. However, in order to maximise profits, these cartels keep many of these farmers in poverty.

This is where fair trade coffee comes in. Fair trade coffee is bought at a fair price that enables farmers to attain a reasonable standard of living. I have notice that generally it is no more expensive than coffee that is purchased at a price that literally destroys lives.

What can we do? Buy fair trade coffee. Ask your local cafe to stock fair trade coffee.

For all those smug non-coffee drinkers, this concept of fair trade does not just apply to coffee. Chocolate as well as many other products we buy can create injustice. The challenge to me and perhaps for you as well is to become aware of where what I buy comes from and who it affects.

But will it affect our wallet? Maybe.
Proverbs 16:8 Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues with injustice.