FTIS 2008 (Fair Trade International Symposium)
Summary of the conferences
Benoît Daviron
Benoît Daviron, economist and researcher at Cirad, put forward an analysis linked to a comparison of the neo-liberal governance plan with the fair trade plan. He insisted on the similarities between the two projects in terms of both the means mobilized and the objectives. Whilst fair trade defines equity from the point of view of the impact of prices on the distribution of income in favour of producers, neo-liberalism defines this equity as the inclusion of all actors and citizens in the market. Now, these fair trade objectives may also be interpreted as a proposal to organise the competition in order to include marginalized producers in the market.
Darryl Reed
Darryl Reed, professor in social sciences at the University of York, examined the role of the Max Havelaar label in the process of regulating the international economy and in the construction of a new model of governance in a globalised context. He believes that the FLO cannot be a regulatory authority in its own right because it lacks legitimacy as a regulatory body, due to the absence of a structure which could support democratic decision-making processes. That means the FLO is a strategy lacking market organization, rather than a political project. Nevertheless, the great potential of the FLO lies in the fact that it belongs to civil society. It could be an important actor in a broader regulation process on condition that it strengthens its democratic operations.
Daniel Jaffee
Daniel Jaffee, sociology professor at Washington State University, invited reflection on the challenges raised by partnerships with transnational companies. He remarks that, beyond the great ideological diversity of the movement, coherence between the different actors’ positions may be found. These shared positions and objectives in no way coincide with those of transnational companies and must be the subject of joint reflection within the movement, in order to strengthen it and to face the possible side effects which partnerships with transnational companies may bring. This work area should centre around two issues: the contradiction between criticism of world domination by the market and the plan to tackle market injustice; and that of governance within the movement, particularly the role played by producers. More broadly, fair trade should be more clearly geared towards alternative social movements with similar objectives.
Jean-Louis Laville
Jean-Louis Laville, sociology professor at CNAM, suggested a general reflection framework on the social and solidarity economy in which fair trade should be involved. Presenting a history of the community movement, he based his reflection on the conceptualisation of political action, centred around two aspects: on the one hand, a public area of citizen involvement working to rebuild social fabric and on the other, an institutional aspect of redistribution at the macro-economical level, which can only be implemented by public policies. The community initiatives work on this approach by taking support from the socio-economic sphere, to legitimize their posing new questions within the public domain. His vision of community initiatives therefore opposes a vision which considers them to be a particular form of private action. Moreover, he insisted on the existing opposition between philanthropic solidarity based on the fight against poverty and democratic solidarity, based on the principles of equality and rights.
© FTIS - 2008 - All rights reserved. - : 08/10/2008