Exactly 13 years after the #N30 actions to shut down the WTO, Global Exchange returns to Seattle with a similar message: #StopTPP!

We all know free trade agreements are politically, economically, and environmentally harmful.

But this weekend at TPPxBorder, hearing people speak to the real consequences of these deals brought my understanding of the dangers of these Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to a very human scale.

Listening to the voices of people who are affected by these FTAs – a pulp mill worker from Everett, WA, who got laid off two years before pension, HIV positive people who won’t be able to afford life-saving medication because of patent laws that protect profits instead of access, a Philippine woman who was forced to leave her family in search of work – these voices remind me that free trade isn’t just an ‘issue’ to discuss or debate. Free trade is about about profits at the expense of people’s health and safely. About trade over ethics. About politics over people and planet.

Free trade ‘agreements’ are anything but consensual.

In fact, the only partnering happening in the TransPacific ‘Partnership’ is is the stitching together of the 1%- corporations and politicians-  whilst the entirety of civil society is excluded and ignored… for now.

That’s why on Saturday December 1, a crowd of hundreds gathered at the U.S.-Canada border to demonstrate our unity and solidarity against the TransPacific Partnership. Representatives from four of the 13 negotiating countries – along with New Zealand by phone – spoke of the risks that the TPP presents to their communities, and the powerful international unity being built to stand up and protect our dignity, our planet, and our human rights.

Jill Mangaliman, Philippine U.S. Solidarity Organization pusoseattle.wordpress.com/

We called this one TPPxBorder: The People’s Round. What I loved about this rally wasn’t only the fiery speakers, the diversity, the music, the unity, the hot coffee, and the ultra-legitimacy of our opposition to this heinous version of the TPP…. what I loved was learning about what an alternative deal would look like- one by and for the people. Listening to speakers and experts articulately describe what fair trade looks like, what it offers communities internationally, reminds me why these fights are so important, and the promise of real, practical, and respectful trade solutions. We have answers – now is the time to join hands and fight for them.

After our rally, and piñata action (in which people managed to overcome ‘blindfolds’ of corporate greenwashing and lobbyist money to finally destroy the TPP piñata and release the affordable jellybean ‘medicines’ and GMO-free popcorn trapped inside!) we headed indoors to a warm meal and strategy sessions to plan future action.

Global Exchange & Witness for Peace co-led a “Social Media to #StopTPP” breakout group to discuss “Twitterstorming”  the corporations secretly negotiating TPP.

The breakout group I co-lead was about how we can use social media to #StopTPP. Our strategy is to call out the corporations negotiating the TPP in secret… and put their secrets in public view on social media channels. This week, our coalition members are calling out two corporate interests a day on their ties to the TPP… would you like to join the Twitterstorm? Just follow @GlobalExchange and @ElectDemocracy on Twitter, then retweet our actions every day this week at 11am and 2pmPST to help spread the word about #StopTPP using the very follower lists that these corporations have built. We can use your help and you can participate from anywhere.

The TransPacific Partnership is on a 1%-gilded beltway and it’s moving fast. But there is time (and enough of us) to stop it. The first thing we all can do is help spread the word. None of us can afford another NAFTA. Help us get the last 250,000 signatures needed this year to reach 1 million on the Avaaz petition against the TPP! And ask your organization to sign the Unity Statement.

VIDEO: Unity Statement at TPPxBorder Rally Dec. 1, 2012

For more information about the TransPacific Partnership and what you can do to stop it, see “10 Reasons to Oppose the TPP.” Thank you for supporting Fair Trade this holiday season, and telling corporations negotiating the TPP in secret exactly what you think of them. Together, we can #StopTPP.

That’s right folks, the sign says “Free Trade, my Ass!”

The following is a guest post from Kristen Beifus, Executive Director of the Washington Fair Trade Coalition, working on behalf of people and the planet for a fair global trading system and lead organizer of the December 1 Day of Action. Join Global Exchange staff members Hillary Lehr and Carleen Pickard, on the border this Saturday!

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Ten Reasons Why the TransPacific Partnership Matters…

1. It is only getting bigger by the day: Thailand knocking at the TPP Door
2. We have not learned from NAFTA: Mexico ordered to pay Cargill $95 million for attempting to keep out high-fructose corn syrup
3. In Free Trade Agreements, corporate profits always trump the environment: Canada/Quebec sued under NAFTA for its ban on fracking by a US corporation
4. It Doesn’t Matter if you are a sovereign nation with labor and environmental laws: Here is a list of the NAFTA chapter 11 cases
5. Or just trying to survive with a life-threatening illness on a few dollars a day: Public health advocates in Malaysia protest reduced access to generic medicines in trade deals
6. Congress is trying, but those who we elect are not part of negotiating this deal-our democracy is at stake! Take this recent Sign-On letter to President Obama from Senator Al Franken on the labor rights concerns in the TPP and urge Senators Cantwell and Murray to sign it!
7. Sweatshops still exist: Here is a recent report by Right2Work
8. Companies are willing to invest millions of dollars to keep consumers in the dark: Here are the corporations who defeated the GMO labeling initiative in California
9. Only when we connect our issues, and combine our strength can we succeed: Dec. 1st is also world AIDS Day
10. We are not alone, we are the majority, and our voices are needed for trade to ever benefit workers and support healthy communities and a sustainable planet: Sign the Avaaz petition to reach a million who say “Stop the Corporate Death Star”, stop the TPP!

TAKE ACTION!

Join Fair Trade bus against the TPP: Join trade justice advocates from Canada, Mexico, and the US from DC to Northern, California, Oregon and WA this December 1st and get on the Fair Trade Bus to the Canada/U.S. border (Peach Arch Park) & take action against the TransPacific Partnership!!

The day of action will include:

• A rally/action with Seattle’s Labor Chorus
• Seattle Fandango Project
• Movitas a radical marching band
• Speakers from First Nations tribes in Canada fighting to protect their sovereignty
• Workers from Kimberly Clark’s Mill in Everett who had their jobs off-shored this year
• Philippine-US Solidarity Organization sharing tales of free-trade in Asia
• Farm justice advocates from Community to Community and international advocates from the Council of Canadians, the national AFL-CIO, Washington State Labor Council
• Asuper fun TPP People’s Action!
• Backbone’s Free Trade My Ass Balloon and Flush the TPP will also be flying along the border and TPP: No New NAFTAs thanks to IBEW Local 46!

Then (there’s more?!):

• The People will jointly strategize on how to engage with social media with Global Exchange & Witness for Peace
• Get organizations onto a Tri-National Unity Letter with Citizen’s Trade Campaign
• Talk about the TPP in 2 minutes or less with SPEEA and develop and implement creative tactics to stop the TPP by the next round in March, 2013!

Want to get on the buses leaving from Seattle? Go to TPPxBorder.org and sign-up.
Buses will be leaving at 10:30am and returning to Seattle at 6:00pm. A delicious hot Mexican meal will be provided for everyone thanks to Community to Community!

Questions? Contact Kristen (at) washingtonfairtrade (dot) org or 206.227.3079

Follow along: Follow protest happenings on Twitter with hashtag #StopTPP.

Global Exchange Gift Membership Package

We all have our own ideas on what the Holidays are all about. Family. Laughter. Good will.

Corporate greed and commercialization? They certainly don’t make the list.

It’s time to take back the Holidays.

The true meaning of the season cannot be packaged in a box. Instead of taking part in the corporate craziness, why not get the loved ones on your list something that brings them the true meaning of the holiday season?

A Global Exchange Gift of Membership is the perfect gift! You can give the gift of Fair Trade, peace, justice, people power, and human rights. You pick the gift and we’ll take care of the rest.

6 Gift Memberships to choose from:

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When your family and friends unwrap their Global Exchange Gift Membership, they will join a compassionate community of dedicated activists working for peace, justice and human rights.

We’ll send out the membership card and gift package, plus keep your recipient in the loop about Global Exchange programs and events with our newsletter and e-mail action alerts.

Order your gifts by December 14th at midnight to guarantee delivery by December 24th 2012.

Wishing you joy, justice, and peace this Holiday Season!

Now to set the mood, here’s a little poem written by Global Exchange Generation for Justice member Andy Klase:

Click on the poem to see larger version on Facebook

P.S. If you live in the Bay Area or DC, please be sure to join us for our Fair Trade Store holiday event on December 6 from 5pm – 8pm. Shop for all your Fair Trade gifts, meet our staff, and if you’re a member double your discount (20% for one night only.)

Are you a Global Exchange supporter? Yes? Well then, you are pretty incredible, it’s true.

Throughout our near-25 years we’ve been proud to share the esteemed company of thousands of passionate, bold, and dedicated people, like you.

Your volunteering, your steady contributions, your protesting (at home and on the streets), your consideration for socially responsible travel, your Fair Trade shopping and your faith in justice – all of these actions mean the difference between dreaming a better world for people and the planet and actually making it happen.

To express our gratitude, some Global Exchange staff members gathered together recently to come up with a way to thank the people who make all of our work possible. 

The result is this short n sweet video filled with messages of thanks that come from the bottom of our hearts. We hope you enjoy it! (Oh, and keep an eye out for Abad’s cameo – Global Exchange’s friendly Labrador – who got caught with his tongue out!)

Does the gratitude train stop here?

Not at all!

This week, we’re also sharing stories of a few (five, to be exact) of the amazing individuals, like you, who make our work possible:

• Matt Ramsden, member and supporter, who keeps buying prize drawing tickets even though he has not won yet, all to support the work he cares about.
• Jenny White, superstar volunteer, chocolate lover, and scourge to corporate lobbyists.
• Jennifer Carino, former employee turned Global Exchange Monthly Supporter.
• Lea Murray, took a Reality Tour to Venezuela and came home inspired to share what she’d seen.
• and Lyla Seo, puts her values first when she shops Fair Trade at our San Francisco store.

There you have it, two different mediums, one important message, to say:

Thank you.

P.S. If you want to see all of the thank you pictures from the video (plus a few extras!), you can check them out at your leisure on our Facebook page.

In this post, we thank Lyla Seo for shopping Fair Trade. To read about others we’re thankful for, click here.

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Thank You Lyla Seo, Shopper on a Mission

Lyla Seo is helping to fundamentally realign our global economic order.  She’s funding healthcare, education, and women’s empowerment.  She’s supporting worker’s rights and helping end child slavery.

And she’s doing all this through one simple act; purchasing Fair Trade products.

Lyla shops at our San Francisco Global Exchange Fair Trade store, and we couldn’t be more grateful for folks like her.  For over two decades, Global Exchange has been a leader in the Fair Trade movement.  And over the years, we’ve come to realize a simple truth:

Fair Trade’s success or failure is completely dependent on people like Lyla.

Purchases drive the Fair Trade system, providing the development premiums that make a meaningful difference in the lives of producers the world over.  All of the projects that matter most – building schools and clinics to developing the infrastructure for additional trade – are only possible when the market for Fair Trade thrives.

All trade provides income, but Fair Trade goes beyond the exchange, expanding rights at the workplace and amplifying the voices of farmers and artisans.  And for commodities like cocoa, Fair Trade is a powerful mechanism for ending child slavery.

We weren’t kidding about the whole fundamental realignment thing.

Lyla knows just how much power she really has.  She explains that she shops at the Global Exchange retail store “because it is important to shop Fair Trade,”

We agree.  And we are thankful for all of the people who help Fair Trade grow.

To Lyla and all of the other Fair Trade supporters out there:

Thank you.

 P.S. Have you watched our new Thank You video yet?

Since 2006 more than 600 garment workers have died in sweatshop factory fires while sewing clothing for giant fashion companies, like GAP, H&M, JCPenney, and Abercrombie.

Future tragic deaths could be prevented if companies like GAP would follow the lead of brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, by agreeing to a fire safety program that includes worker input, transparency, and binding commitments to protect workers.

Garment workers point toward the burning That’s It Sportswear factory, a GAP supplier. 29 workers died in the factory fire on December 14, 2010, many falling to their deaths from the upper floors of the building because locked stairway doors barred their escape. (c) Andrew Biraj / Reuters.

Six months ago GAP publicly promised it would sign on to a worker safety program similar to the Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein agreement. Instead this month GAP reverted to the same old public relations stunts by announcing their own, corporate-controlled, fire safety program – one that includes no legal commitments to workers, no oversight by worker organizations, and no transparency. This is yet another version of GAP saying: ‘trust us; we care about our workers’ – like the programs they had in place when 29 workers were killed at their Bangladeshi supplier in December 2010.

Join Bangladeshi and international unions and labor groups that are calling on GAP to commit to a meaningful fire safety program that will protect the lives of the company’s sweatshop workers. Take action and send a message to GAP.

If you are in the Bay Area, take action with us. Join the rally at GAP’s flagship store in San Francisco. Former sweatshop worker, Carmencita Chie Abad will be speaking. Saturday, October 27 at 1pm.

2012 Human Rights Award honoree, Annie Leonard from the Story of Stuff Project has launched another groundbreaking on-line video called The Story of Change. This post, written by Annie Leonard, is cross-posted from her site. 

I used to think the truth would set us free. Like many who care about the environment, I spent years thinking that information would lead to change. So I wrote reports, gave speeches, even testified before Congress.

Some things changed. Sadly, the big picture didn’t.

For a long time I couldn’t understand why. Now I’ve realized that it isn’t because we don’t have enough data, white papers or experts to tell us we’re in trouble. The problem is we’ve forgotten what it takes to make change.

My new movie, The Story of Change, argues that’s partly because we’ve gotten stuck in consumer mode.

I’ve come to see that we have two parts to ourselves; it’s almost like two muscles – a consumer muscle and a citizen muscle. Our consumer muscle, which is fed and exercised constantly, has grown strong. So strong that “consumer” has become our primary identity, our reason for being. We’re told so often that we’re a nation of consumers that we don’t blink when the media use “consumer” and “person” interchangeably.

Meanwhile, our citizen muscle has gotten flabby. There’s no marketing campaign reminding us to engage as citizens. On the contrary, we’re bombarded with lists of simple things we can buy or do to save the planet, without going out of our way or breaking a sweat.

No wonder that faced with daunting problems and discouraged by the intransigence of the status quo, we instinctively flex our power in the only way we know how – as consumers. Plastic garbage choking the oceans? Carry your own shopping bag. Formaldehyde in baby shampoo? Buy the brand with the green seal. Global warming threatening life as we know it? Change your lightbulb. (As Michael Maniates, a professor of political and environmental science at Allegheny College, says: “Never has so little been asked of so many.”)

Now, all of those are good things to do. When we shop, it’s good to choose products without toxic chemicals and unnecessary packaging, made by locally-based companies that treat their workers well. But our real power is not in choosing from items on a limited menu; it is in determining what gets on that menu. The way to ensure that toxic, climate-disrupting choices are replaced with safe and healthy alternatives – for everyone, not just those who can afford them – is by engaging as citizens: working together for bigger, bolder change than we could ever accomplish as individual consumers.

Look back at successful movements – civil rights, anti-apartheid, the early environmental victories – and you’ll see that three things are needed to make change at the scale we need today.

First, we need a Big Idea of how things could be better – a morally compelling, ecologically sustainable and socially just idea that will not just make things a little better for a few, but a lot better for everyone. Millions around the world already have that idea: an economy based on the needs of people and the planet, not corporate profit.

Second, we need a commitment to work together. In history’s most transformative social movements, people didn’t say “I will perfect my individual daily choices,” but “We will work together until the problem is solved.” Today, it’s easier than ever to work together, online and off.

Finally, we need all of us who share that Big Idea to get active. We need to move from a place of shared concern, frustration and fear to a place of engaged citizen action. That’s how we build the power to make real change.

We have to aim high, work together and act boldly. It’s not simple, and it won’t be easy. But history is on our side. Let’s get to work to make the kind of change we know is possible.

Global Exchange Berkeley Fair Trade Store Staff

Our Fair Trade Stores are throwing holiday parties on Dec. 15th (all are invited!) in Berkeley, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. The evening will bring seasonal spirits and refreshments while guests shop for Fair Trade gifts from around the world.

1. Here’s What to Expect at our Holiday Party:

Exhibit A: Recycled glassware display I snapped at the SF store 2010 holiday bash

1) First the obvious: A wide selection of Fair Trade gifts from around the world. I have at least 5 people left on my gift list, and I hope to cross them all off by the end of this party!
2) 20% OFF everything in the store (can’t combine with other promos) when you use the secret party password. Don’t know what it is? Visit our Facebook page to find out, and click “like” while you’re there.
3) Knowledgeable, friendly staff just waiting to help you find the perfect gifts!

Fair Trade Store Director Jocelyn (r) with former Asst Mgr Ariel (l)

4) Ladies and gents dressed to impress. Global Exchange staff and members tend to get all gussied up in our holiday best, and we sure do clean up nicely! It’s certainly not a formal affair, but holiday sweater sightings are likely.
5) A shombler or two:) Shombler is a word I just made up. It’s a cross between a shopper and a stumbler. (There’s a good chance you’ll spot at least one person who gets just a little too tipsy from the free wine.) Full disclosure: that shombler most likely will be me.
6) To meet progressive people and make new friends. Every year our holiday parties bring together a terrific group of like-minded individuals; Global Exchange members and staff, friends, family and community members.

What Not to Expect at Our Annual Fair Trade Store Holiday Party:

Now that you know what to expect, here’s a couple of things you should not expect to find at our annual Fair Trade holiday party:

1. Mass produced sweatshop-made products. We pride ourselves on offering handmade products from around the world, with fair prices for consumers and fair prices paid to producers.
2. A long drawn out program. This is a party, complete with spirits and munchies, music, laughter and a whole lotta shopping. There is no formal program for the evening, just the extended Global Exchange community coming together to mix and mingle the evening away.
3. To leave empty-handed or empty-bellied. Between the appetizers, holiday spirits and shopping your heart away, there will be plenty to take away from our annual Fair Trade holiday party. So come on out!
   

Global Exchange 2010 holiday party attendees shopping about

TAKE ACTION

Attend the Fair Trade Holiday Party: Hope to see you at the Global Exchange Fair Trade Store Holiday Party. Remember to RSVP on Facebook invite and find out the secret password so you can get your 20% OFF!

Join the #ecowed Twitter Party: We’ll be talking #fairtrade holidays with @YourOrganicLife on Wednesday, 12/14 at 7pm Pacific. Hope you Tweeters out there can join us! Please help spread the word with this suggested tweet: Twitter Party! 12/14 7pm PST @gxfairtrade and @YourOrganicLife talk about #fairtrade holidays #ecowed Plz RT

Happy Holidays!

So basically Americans buy a lot of stuff this time of year, lots of it unwanted after the holidays. For fun I decided to compile a list of 5 of the worst holiday gifts, followed by some gift suggestions guaranteed not to end up in the landfill.

5 of the Worst Holiday Gifts

1) Themed Ties: I get it. Your dad likes fishing. That doesn’t mean he wants to rock a tie in the shape of a fish. My dad is proud to be a Jew. But I just can’t picture him sporting a tie festooned with stars of David.

2) Useless Gizmos: Bread Baker and 101 other useless, space-sucking gadgets and gizmos you’ll use 0-1 times in your life.

3) Fruitcake: I knew this one guy whose sister’s best friend growing up had a great uncle who loved fruit cake. But that’s about it. In all seriousness, not everyone hates fruitcake. But how many of your gift recipients do?

4) Dancing Santas: They are funny for about 36 seconds.  Then it’s “Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer, and Vixen!” Take me to the landfill.

5) Whimsical Outfits: Don’t be an Aunt Clara, who subjected poor little Ralphie to that pink bunny monstrosity in the movie Christmas Story.

What to Replace Them With: Two Great Gift Ideas!

For gifts guaranteed not to end up in the landfills…

1. Fair Trade Gifts: Stop by one of our Fair Trade Stores for all sorts of socially responsible gift options;
2. Global Exchange Membership Gift Package–6 Choices available here.

Global Exchange Gift Membership Package includes:

• One-Year Membership to Global Exchange;
• Certificate of appreciation from Global Exchange;
• A 12oz. bag of Equal Exchange Fair Trade Coffee;
• Full sheet of six (6) “I AM 99%” Stickers;
• Fair Trade Tote Bag;
• $150 coupon toward any 2012 Reality Tour

When you give the gift of Global Exchange membership, you’re connecting someone you care about with an international movement to build a better world.  You pick the gift and Global Exchange staff will take care of the rest. We’ll send out the membership card and gift package, plus keep your recipient in the loop about Global Exchange programs and events.

6 Gift Membership Packages to Choose From:

1. The Gift of Fair Trade
2. The Gift of Socially Conscious Travel
3. The Gift of Human Rights In Mexico
4. The Gift of Community Choice
5. The Gift of Energy Independence
6. The Gift of Green a Green Economy

More details about each Gift Membership Package here.

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The Wall Street Journal reports that the average American (according to Gallup) will spend $712 on holiday gifts this year. Let’s work together to make sure that $712 worth of gifts doesn’t end up in the landfill.

The good folks at Center for a New American Dream point out that only 1 percent of the materials used to make our stuff is still in use six months after the product is sold.

Yikes.

Global Exchange Gift Memberships last all year long. We welcome you to check them out now. Here’s to a happy, healthy and easy-on-the-landfill holiday season!

Join us on the streets (or online) tomorrow and unite with thousands to demand an end to corporate greed, bank bailouts, the gross income disparity destroying this planet and a shift to new alternatives for a peaceful and just society. We are the 99% who say enough is enough.

We know the facts, but seeing them together is staggering:

• Unemployment is firmly mired in the double digits and growing, while the rich remain sheltered from paying their fair share of tax on earnings and capital gains;
• The climate crisis remains unaddressed by global leaders and the U.S. Congress while President Obama contemplates whether or not to green-light the devastating Keystone XL pipeline;
• We are heading into the 10^th year of war spending (at $3 billion a week!);
• Corporations fought hard and won Citizens United and the ‘right’ to spend unlimited funds to get candidates into office;
• The wealthy (such as the Koch brothers) encourage corrupt Governors to end worker protections;
• Banks and Wall Street continue getting huge bonuses (Wall Street bonuses were on average above $125,000 per person for 2010) and bailouts while the rest of us get sold out;
• Free Trade agreements, like NAFTA, have cost the U.S. manufacturing it’s base and good jobs while in Mexico millions have lost their livelihoods. Millions of Mexicans have migrated north, while thousands of economically desperate youth back home have become victims of violence in the drug war run by the drug cartels;
• Fewer and fewer students can afford to attend college (public university costs have risen over 8% in the last year alone), and those that do, face skyrocketing debts that would have seemed unimaginable just 15 years ago; upon graduation when they don’t see any openings in their field they head straight for a “McJob” or the unemployment line.

Enough is enough.
We support our local community.
We resist injustice everywhere.
We are the 99%.

On Wednesday, our staffed office in San Francisco will take to the streets in Oakland as thousands did during the General Strike of December 3, 1946. Our Fair Trade stores in Berkeley, San Francisco and DC will be open to support artisans in the majority world and 9.9% of store income for the day will be donated to #occupyoakland and #occupydc.

Keep up to date: We’ll be using our website, blog, twitter account and facebook as a hub of information and live updates, so check them throughout the day. The good folks at Movement Generation have a great list of events posted here.

Join us as we stand in solidarity with the 99% and demand justice, people power NOT corporate power and true democracy.

Show your support – “I AM 99%” stickers are now available. Click here to order sheets of 6, calling for: Public Health, Jobs & Justice, Tax the Billionaires, End the Wars, Public Schools and Green Jobs Now.

Catch up on movement news: At Global Exchange, we’ve been posting our observations as this movement grows, as well as blogging about our participation in various marches, rallies and our recent experience in New York at #OWS.

Here’s a list of our Occupy blog posts:

• A Day in the Life of Occupy Wall Street – the Community Rights Experience
• Community Rights goes to Occupy Wall Street
• “They know precisely what they want”
• ‘Cos the Power of the People Don’t Stop
• Signs of the San Francisco Occupation
• The 99% Say Enough is Enough
• Call to Action for 10 Year Anniversary of Invasion of Afghanistan
• The 99% Demand: Occupy Wall Street! Bring Our War $$ Home!

Get Occupy Updates Sent Direct to You: Subscribe to our People to People Blog here.

Just Added! Check out our photos from the Occupy Oakland General Strike/Day of Action!