Fair Trade: A Gateway to Global Village

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A Dialogue towards Mutual Relationship - (One World; One Nation; Global Citizens) - A Book by Busara Bin Hekima

Introduction
The book is about Fair Trade; having a Mutual Relationship rather than the current Parasitic relationship which benefits some for the detriment of others.

Rather than pinpointing the problems of the current so-called Free Trade the book suggests solutions which will turn the current free trade to become fair with mutual benefits for every nation within the globe.

The book suggests solutions which will stop the scenario whereby some nations are laborers of other nations, and some are dumping ground of others’ junk products; the trade which will stop the scenario of some enjoying the fruits of trade while others are subjugated into poverty.

The book incites a dialogue about how fair trade can help build a global village whereby patriotism will be towards the earth, and the profits of the trade will benefit all individuals within each nation as well as protecting the environment for the benefit of the current and future generations.

To convey the point across, the book uses a dialogue between characters, namely, Mercantilist, Jobless, Consumer, and Globalist who suggests a Fair Trade between Nations as a bridge to Global village, One World, One Nation with Global Citizens….

CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: The So called Free Trade
CHAPTER TWO: If Hands and Legs were to Fight a Body would Die
CHAPTER THREE: Trade of Essentials and not Non- Essentials
CHAPTER FOUR: Designed on Earth, Assembled where its Effective and Consumed Globally
CHAPTER FIVE; Distributed buying Power
CHAPTER SIX: From National to International


CHARACTERS
Globalist
A young man who believes in global citizenship; Believes that all people matter, no matter where they live, and that universal freedom and human rights can be fostered for all mankind. And by people thinking globally and acting locally they can affect positive change across all barriers.

Mercantilist
An elderly man, a nationalist, who selfishly believes in local trade, protecting his national products and industries, more exports with no imports.... (we are the ones who matters, we should take care of us not others)

The Jobless
A man of average age, used to be wealthy, and employing a massive number of citizens, but due to competition from international companies and cheaper products he had to shut his business; now he is jobless and penniless.

The Consumer
An average woman, happy about the current global trend, things are cheaper in her vicinity than before, she has a lot of choices, now she can purchase more at cheaper prices (freedom of choice)

 

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CHAPTER ONE: The So Called Free Trade;
Mutual or Parasitic Relationship​

Venue; Inside a local Bar, Globalist working as a part time bartender is at the Counter, (just trying to make extra cash for his college fees), across three friends are drinking together, The Consumer, Mercantilist, and The Jobless.

The Jobless; Man I can't believe this, I used to afford buying drinks to all these guys in here..., that counter over there used to have most of my brand name drinks, now I can't even afford buying this cheap colored water which they call beer..., I have to depend on handouts from you guys just to water my throat... AARGHHH; Just when you think you have seen it all... Can you believe it.... now am living with that chap who used to be my driver!!!, all my property, I mean cars, houses, land have all been sold to pay off my debts..., and my so called friends are now gone....

What a position for one to be in...., can you believe it ? The company which have been handed over through my family for seven generations has died on my hands.

Mercantilist; At least for you, you have been there and done that..., but majority whom were employed by you are now jobless, even that little which they were paid is now gone... what a misery..., we need to shut our borders and kick out these foreigners, they are ruining our country.

Consumer; Not to sound like a witch, though am sorry for your loss you must admit prices have fallen, ; and the product choices..., what can I say, I can't even pronounce some of these names, in the so called good old days it was more or less your brands and prices were, how can I put it..., a bit on the high side.

The Jobless; Enjoy while it lasts you might be happy with these toys and junks at the moment but with massive loss of jobs unless you are a luck minority you might soon or later get laid off..., then you will be talking from this side of the fence.

Consumer; but it's not only I who cherish the difference, I know a few people around in town..., like that lady who used to make traditional baskets, now she exports her produce to places far away..., or those chap in the mines....

The Jobless; Like you said a few in town, and those chaps in the mines I wouldn't call it being better off, the amount of work they do, the environment they work in and the peanuts they get paid leaves alot to be desired...

Mercantilist; like I said...., we need to ban these foreign products, if we can produce it, then it shouldn't be imported...

Consumer; But if they can produce something cheaper than us..., why don't we buy from them what they are better at producing and concentrate on what we can efficiently produce. ...

The Jobless; Have you seen some of their prices? do you think we have a chance of going toe to toe with them?

Consumer; If they can.... why can't we? Unless otherwise they have a geographical advantage how can a product still cost cheaper after adding all the shipment costs..., if its machinery and technical knowhow it's about time we invest in such machinery and start learning...., I have no desire of going back on the good old days whereby I had only one choice of a brand, and if the product was substandard I had just to make do..., and the prices..., don't even start me on the prices...

The Jobless: Well you ask, how can a product be so cheap after adding all the shipment costs..., and why the likes of us cannot imitate what they do so we can also compete...

Consumer: Mm-hmm, why?

The Jobless; I don’t mind the countries with comparative advantage, by having better geographical location..., No one will expect a guy from the desert to compete with someone from Mediterranean countries in fruits production....

Consumer; That would be crazy of course...

The Jobless; Or if it was the case of machinery and technical know-how I would have tried to invest to match them... Or if it was economy of scale( the producers having a large customer base, thus selling at a cheaper unit price..., then the option would have been to market my produce

But this...., what is happening is nonsensical..., am sure even some of the taxpayers of those countries... if they had to know what is happening they would have blown their gasket..., what is happening is neither free market nor business... its social welfare to the detriment of our people...

Consumer: Please do explain...

The Jobless; First let me give you a real exarnple; Did you hear what happened to my brothers in Ghana?

Mercantilist; The Case of Tomatoes...

The Jobless; You are well informed...., for the benefit of Consumer here...., You know the EPA agreement between European Union and Africa...

Consumer; The Economic Partnership Agreement, thanks to that, the Country Ghana you are talking about is able to export its cocoa to Europe customs free...

The Jobless; Indeed, Ghanaians are able to export their Cocoa to European markets, but the Europeans also wants duty free access to many African markets, Ghana included...

Consumer; and the problem is?

The Jobless; Sounds fair on paper..., but practically Ghana had to drop their customs duties almost completely, just to keep exporting their Cocoa.

Consumer; Still cannot see the problem..., or it’s the case of having your cake (or rather Cocoa in this ¢ase) and eat it too...

The Jobless; Bear with me....

It could have been okay if this agreement was a Win-Win but three things makes it’s one sided with most African countries getting the wrong end of the stick...

Consumer: What are those?