On Saturday I was in Morrisons shopping with my mum and brother. When we found the sugar isle I automatically picked up the first packet of demerara sugar. Just as I was about to put it in my basket I stopped and read the packaging. When I saw it was not Fairtrade I put it back and started looking for the Fairtrade demerara but there wasn’t any. No big deal… another first world problem, yes?

No. This is definitely counts as a fundamental human problem. The problem of how we choose to treat each other.

I don’t understand why we are given the choice whether to exploit someone or not. Why can I choose to save 30p and underpay someone or pay more to give someone what they have worked for? It’s fucked up that we need Fairtrade products. In this context I am given the choice to underpay and exploit someone but I don’t get the choice of exploiting a chef in restaurant, the driver on a bus or the workers in Morrisions by paying less for their services. There isn’t an option to pay a hairdresser the “exploitative” price or the higher “Fairtrade” price when getting a haircut. So why do I get the choice to underpay someone just because they’re far away and I don’t have to deal with them in person? Why are we okay with treating someone badly so a company can profit or I can save money? It’s not worth making other people suffer just so I can have tea the way I like it.

Ughh I shouldn’t be too surprised though as this is the same bull shit white people have been doing for hundreds of years. They’ve just changed the language and the emphasis.