Join our new delegation:

Globalization, Justice
and Coffee

The Impact of Fair Trade and Free Trade on
Small Coffee Farmers in Chiapas, Mexico
January 24 to February 3, 2009

A delegation for people of faith, sponsored by the Jubilee Justice Task Force of the United Church of Christ, Brethren Witness/Washington Office of the Church of the Brethren and the Interfaith Program of Equal Exchange

Purposes:

Learn about the economic, political, and social context of the lives of small coffee farmers in Chiapas, including:

• Globalization, the coffee trade, Mexico’s debt crises, the North American Free Trade agreement and global price crises;
• the history of Mexico;
• the rural social structure of Chiapas and the history of exploitation and abuses against indigenous people;
• Campesino resistance, including the rural land reform movements starting in the 1970s and the 1994 Zapatista uprising and its aftermath
• the role of faith, church leaders and Liberation Theology; and
• the role of campesino co-operatives and Fair Trade.

Visit an indigenous coffee co-operative and one of it’s member villages:

• Hear about the history and organization of the co-operative;
• Stay in the home of a coffee farming family;
• Visit their coffee trees, and learn about the hard work of organic cultivation, harvesting and processing coffee;
• Hear the testimony of small farmers, about their lives now and before land reform;
• Visit an indigenous women’s artisan cooperative.

Reflect with other members of our delegation, on social and economic justice in our faith traditions and how to express these themes to members of our communities.

Commit to bringing your experience back to your communities.

Pre-delegation book group: In the months before the delegation, delegates are encouraged to participate in an online book discussion moderated by the Rev. Stan Duncan. Readings will cover the coffee trade, the Mexican economic crises of the last 30 years and the history of Chiapas. Reading materials will be provided.


Cost:
Probably around $900, plus airfare to Chiapas. Covers room, board, transportation, and Witness for Peace staff leaders.

Deadline:
We plan to recruit delegates as early as possible and precede the trip with selected readings and online discussion.

For more information contact:
Peter Buck
Interfaith Program, Equal Exchange
pbuck@equalexchange.coop
774-776-7414

Stan Duncan,
Jubilee Justice Task Force, UCC
StanDuncan@JubileeJustice.com
781-504-6875

Phil Jones
Church of the Brethren Witness/Washington Office
pjones_gb@brethren.org
202-546-3202