Fair Trade Community

Now you can easily show that you are a part of the Social Justice movement and it is easier to convince others to also show their support. Fair Trade Community Gift Shop makes it easy for you to show that you care.

While many of us are working to ensure that the Occupy movement will have a lasting impact, it's worthwhile to consider other countries where masses of people succeeded in nonviolently bringing about a high degree of democracy and economic justice.

Sweden and Norway, for example, both experienced a major power shift in the 1930s after prolonged nonviolent struggle. They "fired" the top 1 percent of people who set the direction for society and created the basis for something different.

Human Rights Day

This year, millions of people decided the time had come to claim their rights. They took to the streets and demanded change. Many found their voices using the internet and instant messaging to inform, inspire and mobilize supporters to seek their basic human rights. Social media helped activists organize peaceful protest movements in cities across the globe - from Tunis to Madrid, from Cairo to New York - at times in the face of violent repression.

Last November 17th, for the closure ceremony of the Global Microcredit Summit in Valladollid, Nobel Prize Muhammad Yunus advanced his speech to arrive on time for the next day conference on Social Economy and Social Business held by the European Commission.

I had the opportunity to attend different sessions on Social Businesses with Professor Yunus, one of them being more intimate and out of the official programme, thanks to MFI Connect.

Fair Trade Community would like to extend its best wishes to you this holiday and wish you a Merry Fair Trade Christmas.

Please enjoy the year-end message below.

Human Rights Day

Multinational companies play an increasingly large role in the world, and have been responsible for numerous human rights abuses. Although the legal and moral environment surrounding the actions of governments is reasonably well developed, that surrounding multinational companies is both controversial and ill-defined. Multinational companies' primary responsibility is to their shareholders, not to those affected by their actions. Such companies may be larger than the economies of some of the states within which they operate, and can wield significant economic and political power.

Human Rights Day

Human rights defender is a term used to describe people who, individually or with others, act to promote or protect human rights. Human rights defenders (HRDs) are those men and women who act peacefully for the promotion and protection of those rights.

Human Rights Day

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being."

Human rights are thus conceived as universal (applicable everywhere) and egalitarian (the same for everyone). These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national and international law. The doctrine of human rights in international practice, within international law, global and regional institutions, in the policies of states and the activities of non-governmental organizations has been a cornerstone of public policy around the world. It has been said that: "if the public discourse of peacetime global society can be said to have a common moral language, it is that of human rights."

Where does coffee come from and how it is produced? I have heard about roasting coffee beans, what is it and how is it done? If you are interested in any of these questions you will enjoy these "Quick Facts About Producing and Roasting Coffee."