Apr 29 2009
A Request for Fair Trade Advocates
So this post is intended to point out a major hypocrisy of many on the far left. These are people who have protested NAFTA, boycotted brands which use sweatshops, and spent hundreds of extra dollars buying “Fair Trade” products, especially coffee. Maybe this is just a stereotype, but a lot of these people are using drugs, especially marijuana. So here’s my question to them. Are your drugs “fair trade?”
You protest companies who use labor not paid at a “living wage.” People argue that these foreign companies are still paying more than being unemployed or the alternative means of employment. You say that’s not enough.
Yet, was the Colombian who grew your pot paid a “living wage?” Moreover, is he even still living? We are not talking about “evil America” exploiting the poor here. We are talking about violent criminal cartels terrorizing the poor.
We are talking about cartels who have significant influence over the corrupt governments of several developing countries. We are talking about cartels who have left a path of blood throughout Latin America for decades. That path has now led them straight to the border. We are talking about cartels who, once they have spent enough money on violence to protect themselves and their “merchandise” are sending that money around the world to fund religious and political extremist groups.
So where are the fair trade activists who demonstrated over “blood diamonds” tonight? Are they smoking their blood buds or snorting their blood lines?
So think twice before you start using drugs, if you really care about “fair trade” and the developing world. But what about the domestic and Canadian stuff? Well, maybe it was grown using “fair trade principles,” but unless you or someone you personall know well grew it, how did you get it?
Was a 14 year old boy ever shot fighting for someone’s right to sell it to you on that particular corner, or the right to sell it to your dealer? Was an 8 year old child ever killed by a stray bullet for the same reason? How much of the money you spent on that dime bag went back to the community? Okay, we’ll count both yours and the one your drugs were grown in?
For decades, we have fought the “War on Drugs” and dealers, cartels, and corrupt politicians have waged the “Drug Wars” on two fronts, leaving trails of blood both within our cities and throughout our hemisphere. Now, those two fronts have become closer than ever. The situation along the U.S.-Mexican border should be a wake up call to everyone. Drug related violence iss not just a great scene in Blow. It is real.
So, all you pot-smoking hippies: are your drugs “fair trade?”
