Visit Oxfam's "fair trade" project
It used to be that Oxfam was just a charity organization bringing food to the Third World and maybe even wrecking the agriculture there in order to do so. We did not think much of its political or economic sense. While drawing endless attention to starvation, Oxfam does not see a non-negotiable humyn right to eat and MIM does. Hence, MIM is for the dictatorship of the proletariat while Oxfam believes that when push-comes-to-shove the exploited and super-exploited should negotiate away their rights to eat in "democracy." A large portion of the world gives money to Oxfam to feel good about itself rather than actually change anything.
Now things have changed. The "fair trade" project initiated by Oxfam has turned Oxfam into a better ally of MIM than the countless "communist" organizations that do not as of yet understand international exploitation even as much as Oxfam does. As MIM has predicted in several articles on the emergence of internationalist social-democracy, Oxfam has made internationalist reformism respectable reformism. Together we can support an end to imperialist country protectionism, the abolition of agricultural subsidies or the internationalization of them, an international minimum wage for the whole world and not just the export sectors either, international regulations on child labor, international environmental controls--at least for all countries wanting to participate in the WTO governed trade agreements which is almost everyone.
Tackling the WTO, the Oxfam has opened a huge subject within which there are many, many large, medium and small issues. Doubtless MIM will have disagreements with Oxfam down the road on how to implement fair trade. However, broadly-speaking in the world, there are two responses to globalization: 1) one fans imperialist country economic nationalism a la Patrick Buchanan, Ross Perot and to a lesser extent Richard Gephardt. This camp benefits from the irrational nihilism of many so-called anarchists who have no way forward. 2) The other camp accepts that the world is getting smaller and seeks reforms of the WTO and international trade agreements. MIM belongs to this camp, because the other camp speeds the planet toward an intensification of world war. Included in this camp should be the oppressed nation economic nationalists seeking to compete on terms more favorable with the rich.
For MIM, one great class struggle occurred recently in Berkeley, California where the labor aristocracy showed us internationalists that the labor aristocracy is in the saddle, not us, even in the supposedly most radical city in Amerika. Over 70% of voters would not require coffee shops to use coffee beans from "fair trade" certified sources. See the article in MIM Notes 271, page 7.
It's one of the few class struggles in Amerika in recent times that was not strictly intra-bourgeois. There was real proletarian content to that struggle in Berkeley which we lost.
MIM wants to be clear with people that Oxfam cannot succeed, because the economic and political interests blocking it will not surrender without revolution. Any concept of "free trade" or "fair trade" is only a pipe-dream under capitalism. Nonetheless, as even most calling themselves "revolutionaries" have not figured that out yet, and because the alternative to Oxfam reformism is reactionary reformism, we encourage many people to join MIM or Oxfam. Revolutionaries should hook up with MIM and weak-kneed reformists and charity-lovers should push Oxfam's maketradefair.com project as far as they can.
We encourage anyone launching a "fair trade" offensive to keep MIM informed. We can publicize it in our publications and website as well.