by Tripp Pomeroy, Café Campesino's General Manager

In last month's edition of Fair Grounds, Bill wrote an articulate, accurate, and timely article about emerging tensions and divisions in the Fair Trade movement, and more importantly, how they stand to affect the future prospects for our producer partners around the world.

His article, The Fair Tradin' Crossroad Blues, is an invaluable reality-check and poignant reminder that 1) even though the concept of Fair Trade isn't rocket science, thousands of years of bad trading habits are hard to break and 2) protecting the integrity of Fair Trade requires, as Jefferson said about freedom, "eternal vigilance." But vigilance alone will not make global trade fair.

The crossroad that Bill describes in his article strikes me as a great opportunity for Fair Traders to take a good hard look at what we do so that we can better define and implement Fair Trade. Not only should we expect challenges to our paradigm, we should welcome them, regardless of whether they come from within or outside of the Fair Trade movement. Challenges are what rouse us from vigilance and call us to action when it is required. For Fair Traders, action means refining and improving the Fair Trade model so that it effectively serves disenfranchised, impoverished small-scale producers around the world and remains a sustainable, true extension of the Golden Rule in the daily lives of trading partners around the world. If challenges to our model of Fair Trade enhance our ability to achieve these two ends, we need to be flexible and willing to adapt; if they do not, then we need to be prepared to enter the fray and stand with our trading partners in defense of treating each other with respect, dignity and fairness.

Although Fair Trade is very likely at the crossroad that Bill describes, we should find strength in the fact that virtually all of the world's spiritual traditions endorse the concept of people treating others as they themselves wish to be treated. Strip away all of our self-imposed divisions and barriers and underneath it all, maybe the people of the world do want the same thing! Below are some of the world's different expressions of what I believe Fair Traders are all about…the Golden Rule.

Buddhism
Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful. Udana-Varga 5,1

Christianity
All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:1

Confucianism
Do not do to others what you would not like yourself. Then there will be no resentment against you, either in the family or in the state. Analects 12:2

Hinduism
This is the sum of duty; do naught onto others what you would not have them do unto you. Mahabharata 5,1517

Islam
No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. Sunnah

Judaism
What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary. Talmud, Shabbat 3id

Taoism
Regard your neighbor's gain as your gain, and your neighbor's loss as your own loss. Tai Shang Kan Yin P'ien

Zoroastrianism
That nature alone is good which refrains from doing another whatsoever is not good for itself. Dadisten-I-dinik, 94,5

(Source: http://www.teachingvalues.com)

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Just a quick follow up to Paddle Georgia 2006: Word reached us too late for the July edition of Fair Grounds, but we want to thank Jonathan Mattox and Bonnie Garrott for going out of their way to help us keep the coffee flowing at this year's Paddle Georgia!!

August promises to be the calm before the storm as fall is literally just around the corner! During the next three weeks, most of Lee's and Maty's efforts will be directed towards roasting your coffee and completing their move into our spacious, cool new roasting facility. Meanwhile, Kristy and Tripp will be busy transforming the room that production is leaving behind into a warm, friendly place for customers and other visitors to pick up their fresh-roasted Fair Trade, organic coffee and learn more about Fair Trade and what we do here at Café Campesino. We thought we'd be ready to tell you more and share some photos of our new set up by now, but it has been hotter than, well, Georgia asphalt in the middle of summer, and we're just plain runnin' behind...so stay tuned!

This past Monday, August 7th, Tripp traveled 30 miles south of Americus to serve and talk Fair Trade coffee with the members of Albany's first and only organic food coop (and new Cafe Campesino customer) Bee Green. Until Bee Green hit the scene, organic foods in Southwest Georgia had been slim pickens.  But thanks to Kristen Taylor and the other folks at Bee Green that's changing...quickly! Bee Green has grown from roughly 30 members to 120 members in just the past few months and it appears that Café Campesino is on track to serve as the co-op’s Americus locale. You can read more about Bee Green in a recent article run by the Albany Herald. To contact Bee Green directly, call (229) 435-3373 or e-mail ubeegreen2 at bellsouth.net.

On August 25, 2006, Café Campesino will be closed as our entire crew heads to Lawrenceville, GA, for a team building experience complete with barista training at the headquarters of our friends Espresso Southeast.

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"If you saw a heat wave, would you wave back?"

— Steven Wright

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• July 2006 The Fair Tradin' Cross Road Blues by Bill Harris, Café Campesino President
• June 2006 2006 World Fair Trade Day - Americus Style, Building Community Right Here at Home by Bren Dubay, Director, Koinonia Farm
• May 2006 What Fair Trade Is All About, By Tripp Pomeroy, Ten Ways to Celebrate World Fair Trade Day
• April 2006 Bill's Spring Break Travels Part I by Bill Harris, Call to Action: World Fair Trade Day
• March 2006 Café Campesino Teams Up with Guayakí, On The Road With CRS in Nicaragua by Michael Sheridan, Call to Action: Global Exchange Reality Tours
• February 2006 True Love is Café Campesino, Café Campesino Honored at GA Sustainable Business Day, Call to Action: Bioneers
• December 2005 Celebrating a Great Fair Trade Year, Fair Trade Partner: Café Conciencia, Fair Trade Partner: No Sweat Apparel
• November 2005 Gearing Up For the Holiday Season, Café Campesino Community Caravan, Show Your Café Campesino Pride and Win!, Return of the Monarch Butterfly
• October 2005 Hurricane Stan Ravages Our Guatemalan Friends, Report From the Fair Trade Futures Conference, Customer Spotlight: Sobornost for the World Foundation's World Village Fair Trade Market, Fair Trade Partner: Maya Tech Learning Centers
• September 2005 Cooperative Coffees and Producers Meet in Guatamala by Tripp Pomeroy, Café Campesino's General ManagerSupport OXFAM - Support Fair Trade, Customer Spotlight: Rainbow Natural Grocery, Fair Trade Partner: A Different Approach
• August 2005 Producer Profile: Fondo Paez, Customer Spotlight: Apoteca, Fair Trade Partner: Pachamama, A World of Artisans
• July 2005 Harrar Joins Our Coffee Lineup, Producer Profile: Ethiopia's OCFCU, Fair Trade on the Home Front
• June 2005 Sumatra Update: June 2005 provided by Thomas Fricke, ForesTrade, National Fair Trade Conference, Fair Trade Partner: Three Frontiers Trading Co.
• May 2005 Producer Profile: ACMPASA Santa Anita, Top 10 Ways to Support Fair Trade, Customer Spotlight: Crimson Moon Café, Fair Trade Partner: Fair Trade Resource Network
• April 2005 An Eye-Opening Trip to Guatemala by Bill Harris, Catholic Relief Services Fair Trade Coffee Program, Manna Grocery and Deli, La Esmeralda Stove Project
• March 2005 Insights From Our Guatemala Producer Partners by Tripp Pomeroy, Take Us To Your Coffeehouse!, Customer Spotlight: The Sentient Bean, Fair Trade Partner: Mexico Solidarity Network
• February 2005 Meeting Our Guatemala Partners Face to Face, Producer Profile: APECAFORM, Customer Spotlight: Mayflower Coffee Company, Fair Trade Partner: CoffeeTradeJustice.com
• January 2005 Tragedy's Wake: Update From Sumatra, Producer Profile: PPKGO Cooperative
• December 2004 Mexico: Notes From the Field, Customer Spotlight: Ten Thousand Villages, Fair Trade Partner: Cloudforest Initiatives
• November 2004 Conscious Consumption: A Personal Perspective, Customer Spotlight: Oyamel - Cocina Mexicana, Fair Trade Partner: Three Frontiers Trading Co.
• October 2004 A Mission...Not a Market: The 2004 Vote: Making it Work
• September 2004 Producer News: CECOCAFEN in the Off Season, Customer Spotlight: The Healthy Gourmet
• August 2004 Producer Profile: Cooperativa Café Timor, Fair Trade Friends: Marketplace of India
• July 2004 A Fair Trade Reality Check, Fair Trade Friends: Tribal Fiber, Coffee Lab International
• June 2004 The Promise of Fair Trade, Fair Trade Friend: Global Crafts
• May 2004 Fair Trade at the Carter Center, SCAA meeting.
• April 2004 Coffee and Community in Nicaragua, Fair Trade in Americus Makes the News!
• March 2004 Fair Trade chocolate, Rosetta's Kitchen
• February 2004 Bill's Return to Guatemala, Guayakí Rainforest
• January 2004 Espresso - What's the Buzz?
• December 2003 Fair Trade: Global Exchange's Fair Trade Challenge; Fellow Fair Traders: SERRV International
• November 2003 Fair Trade: More Than Just a Fair Price; Fellow Fair Traders: Lucuma Designs
• October 2003 Exploring the Coffee Regions
• September 2003 Cooperative Coffees Annual Meeting
• August 2003 Fair Trade Friends: Oxfam America; The Art (and Science) of Roasting Coffee
• July 2003 Exploring Our Origins: Sumatra
• June 2003 Exploring Our Origins: Guatemala; Gayo Mountain Adventure; Dr. Coffee - Cupping
• May 2003 Fair Trade Friends: United Students for Fair Trade; World Fair Trade Day
• April 2003 Exploring Our Origins: Ethiopia; Celebrating Earth Day with Fair Trade
• March 2003 Bill's Central American Adventures, Part 2; SWP Decaffeination
• February 2002 Bill's Central American Adventures, Part 1
• January 2003 My Life as a Bean
• December 2002 Exploring Our Origins: East Timor; Sustainable Development
• November 2002 New Website; Gift Baskets
• October 2002 Interview with roaster Lee Harris
• September 2002 ForesTrade Wins UN Sustainability Award; Exploring Our Origins: Sumatra's Gayo Cooperative
• August 2002 Producer News: Shade Grown; Fair Trade Friends: Atlanta Audubon
• July 2002 Exploring Our Origins: Colombia
• June 2002 Back Roads Journal: Cooperative Coffees and Café Campesino; Exploring Our Origins: Peru; Fair Trade Friends: Music of the Andes
• May 2002 Staff Notes: Cinco de Mayo; Producer News: Visit to Mut Viz; Back Roads Journal: SCAA Meeting
• April 2002 Back Roads Journal: Travels in Fair Trade; Customer Composting Tip