Supporters of the Enough Food for Everyone: IF campaign headed to London for a last push before the G8 meeting hosted by David Cameron.

They rallied in Hyde Park on 8th June.

45,000 people came from across the UK to demand the changes necessary so that no one in the world goes hungry.

The Fairtrade Foundation had their own display at the event & Yorkshire was well represented with many coachloads of supporters making the journey south.

The IF campaigners were joined by Rowan Williams, Bill Gates and Myleene Klass.

One of the highlights of the day was the planting of the field of flowers.  The two million petals of the paper flowers represent the 2 million children’s lives lost each year to hunger.  Lives that should never have been lost and we have a duty to ensure that policies change, so that children do not have to die of hunger and starvation in the future.

Read here of Oxfam’s verdict on the G8 meeting and what has been achieved so far by the IF campaign.

A large contingent of Yorkshire campaigners headed to the Hyde Park IF rally.

Sheffield IF campaigners proudly display their impressive banner

Fairtrade supporters from York, Maurice Vassie and John Whitworth, were delighted to take part. ‘ We must hold the G8 to account’ stated John ‘policies must change if we are to see a world without hunger.’

Mark Dawson, Coordinator of Fairtrade Yorkshire, was also amongst the 45,000 strong crowd.  He planted one of the hundred of thousands of flowers in the dramatic field of flowers.  ‘It’s a stunning sight’  Mark commented ‘the symbolic act of planting a flower represents our commitment that we will carry on with the fight until we have a world where no child has to suffer from hunger’.

Mark Dawson plants a white rose in the field of flowers.

Sheffield Oxfam Campaigners staged a land grab in the centre of the steel city.

Prominent landmarks such as the City Hall and the Crucible Theatre were sold off to the highest bidder.

Sheffield citizens will be relieved to hear that this was not the real thing but a campaigning action to highlight the growing problems associated with land grabs.

Large scale land deals in developing countries are leaving people homeless and hungry.  Families are being unfairly evicted from their land – sometimes violently – and left with no way to grow food or earn a living.

Every second, poor countries lose an area of land the size of a football pitch to banks and private investors.

Poor families are often evicted without fair treatment or compensation.  In losing their land they often lose their livelihoods or an opportunity to grow food to feed themselves.

Find out more on the Oxfam website.

The Borough of Harrogate has had its Fairtrade status renewed by the Fairtrade Foundation for another two years.

Steering Group members have pledged to support Fairtrade on a district-wide basis and help  increase the range of shops, cafes and workplaces using Fairtrade goods.

Fairtrade Harrogate supporters with Andrew Jones MP, celebrating the declaration of Yorkshire Fairtrade Region earlier this year.

The spa town has its own dedicated Fairtrade shop based at St. Peter’s church in the heart of the town centre.

Carmen Sawyers of Fairtrade Harrogate was delighted at the renewal announcement.  She said that the aim of the Steering Group, in the next two years, was to increase awareness of the wide range of Fairtrade goods and assist several schools across the borough to achieve Fairtrade School status.

Trade Justice activists have called for retailers to take more responsibility for the safety of the people who are making the clothes that they sell.

The building collapse in Bangladesh, which resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries, is a stark example of what can happen when the safety of workers is ignored.

In addition to the responsibility of the authorities in Bangladesh, western retail companies who benefit from cheap labour, also have an obligation to ensure workers are safe.

York campaigner William Gomes

William Gomes is a Trade Justice activist based in York but has lived for most of his life in Bangladesh.  Together with Trade Justice activists, he has visited large clothing retailers in Leeds and York to talk about working conditions for garment workers and calling for the tightening up of ethical procurement policies.

William said; “I cried when I heard what had happened to the workers in the Rana Plaza.  Many people have died making clothes for western retailers.  They paid the price for our fashion.”

Read William’s article which was published in the Huffington Post.

The Fairtrade Foundation is a proud member of the Enough Food For Everyone, IF campaign.

IF campaigners at Leeds Market with Fabian Hamilton MP

The campaign calls for the changes necessary to ensure that no one need go hungry.  This includes support for small scale farmers as the Foundation outlines in its Make Food Fair campaign.

Food campaigners Yilli and Jess urge York shoppers to back the campaign

It is important that everyone reading this website signs up to the campaign.

Sign up to the IF campaign now.

On Saturday 8th June, thousands of food justice campaigners will be converging on Hyde Park in London to demand change.  The campaigners hope to influence the G8 meeting that will take place in Northern Ireland in June.  Do you want to be there at this change making event?  Check out the website for more details.

IF is formed by a coalition of different groups including: the Fairtrade Foundation, Oxfam, Christian Aid, CAFOD and the Women’s Institute.

To end hunger, we need to tackle four big IFs:

• IF we stop poor farmers being forced off their land and we grow crops to feed people not fuel cars.
• IF  governments and big companies are honest and open about some of the things that stop people getting enough food.
• IF we give enough aid to stop children dying from hunger and help the poorest families get enough food.
• IF we stop big companies dodging taxes in poor countries.

Read the rest of this entry »

Talented young artists in Rotherham celebrated the borough’s Fairtrade commitment this month.

On Tuesday May 21st, at Rotherham Town Hall, pupils from across Rotherham’s schools were presented with prizes by the Mayor and Mayoress of Rotherham, Coun. John and Mrs. Kath Foden.

Organised for a second year by the Rotherham Fairtrade Steering Group, pupils at schools across the Borough were invited to submit posters that conveyed the Fairtrade message. The winners and runners-up were presented with prizes and gifts and will see their designs displayed in the John Smith Room in the Town Hall.

Coun. Ken Wyatt, Chair of the Fairtrade Steering Group, praised the youngsters for taking part. “We had around 100 entries and they were really impressive. The youngsters had obviously give the whole Fairtrade campaign a lot of thought and consequently me and my fellow judges had a very hard task in choosing the winning entries.”

Rotherham became an accredited Fairtrade Town in 2006. The accreditation acknowledged that Fairtrade is now an integral part of both the authority and the wider Rotherham community, giving ethically-minded shoppers much more opportunity to use and buy Fairtrade goods.

Oakworth Primary School where the first tree of the Fairtrade orchard was created on 15th May

Keighley is the latest town in Yorkshire working to achieve Fairtrade Town status. This comes after Yorkshire was declared the very first Fairtrade Region earlier this year.

Involving schools is key to a successful application for Fairtrade Town Status so Fairtrade Keighley has teamed up with Yorkshire based businesses fairandfunky and Small World to deliver an innovative new project: “Fairtrade Orchard”; across schools in Keighley.

fairandfunky (www.fairandfunky.com) is a Community Interest Company; empowering people to take little steps to change the world, through interactive and creative workshops on global themes to schools and community groups.

The project began on Saturday May 4^th at Small World where members of the community are invited to join in a fairandfunky workshop: creating 6 trees from recycled materials.

Small World, based at 20 Russell Street, provides grass roots, participatory arts; bringing communities together through a variety of inclusive projects with young people from all over Keighley: www.smallworldkeighley.org

These trees will form the basis of the Fairtrade Orchard which will then be adorned with leaves, animals, plants and flowers in 5 schools across Keighley in the following weeks; culminating in a community event at The Airedale Shopping Centre in June.

During the schools workshops, fairandfunky will lead interactive discussions on Fairtrade issues and celebrate the work done by The Fairtrade Foundation to get a wide variety of Fairtrade products across the UK. Helen Robinson from fairandfunky said: “In our workshops children will learn about Fairtrade and the people involved in supply chains and will be encouraged to think about the world around them, all whilst being involved in creating something really special for the people of Keighley to be proud of!”

The 6 trees will come together to create a Fairtrade Orchard representing olive, banana, coffee, tea, lemon and cocoa farmers; and was inspired by the visit to Keighley of Palestinian Olive farmers during Fairtrade Fortnight. The orchard will be at The Bingley Show in July.

“This project will connect schools and businesses to Fairtrade,” said Richard Dillon, chair of the Fairtrade Keighley Steering Group, “It will showcase the commitment of Keighley to Fairtrade and enable us all to make positive actions right on our doorstep.”

The workshops have been made possible thanks to funding from the West Yorkshire Co-operative Area Committee; and the Keighley Town Council Oak Fund.

The Folk Festival stall of Fair Trade gifts.

Supporters in the twin towns have been busy in the past month with a flurry of Fairtrade activity.  Fairtrade Malton and Norton set up an attractive Fair Trade stall at the Blue Ball pub in Malton as part of the Malton and Norton Folk Festival.  There was singing and dancing at the Blue Ball during the day.  The group then took the stall to Suddaby’s for the evening folk concert.

The impressive window display in Malton town centre.

Fairtrade Malton and Norton also set up a display in the window of House Martins, a day nursery in Malton town centre.  This advertised their stall at St Michael’s church on Saturday May 18th during the Malton Fine Food Festival.  The group sold coffee, tea and cakes made with Fairtrade ingredients at the event.

Karen Palframan (second on the right) and Cheska Hull (third on the right) join in the handover at Number 10. Credit: Matt Crossick (Fairtrade Foundation)

Karen Palframan, of Fairtrade Bradford and Ilkley, was there at the big handover of the Make Trade Fair petition at number 10 Downing Street on 9th May.

Campaigners, including the “Made In Chelsea” star, Cheska Hull, handed in two petitions containing 75,000 signatures from Fairtrade campaigners and members of the Co-operative.  The petitions call on the UK government to use the G8 summit to support smallholder farmers, to feed the world fairly and sustainably.  Together with the Enough Food For Everyone IF Campaign, this action has a strong chance of bringing about change in the way food is produced and distributed.

Join the IF campaigners in London on June 8th to remind David Cameron to urge the G8 to reform our broken food system.  We need real change so that no one need go hungry.

Check out the handover on You Tube.