The astringent coffee, the bitterness of the world

When we pick up a latte or cappuccino, how much do we know about the origin of different coffees and the hard work? Dean Saikon, a human rights lawyer who advocates "coffee fair trade" and runs a conscience business, not only focuses on price, but also walks into the village to buy coffee-making machines and improve the water system for coffee-growing villagers. This book tells the story of the author.

● Peng Shiqing (Library staff, Hong Kong)

Coffee is an incredible drink in our daily diet. It originated in Ethiopia, brought to Persia and Turkey by Yemeni merchants, and then to Vienna and European countries through the Turks. Some people brought its seeds to many equatorial countries to grow. Once regarded as a depraved drink by religious groups, it has now become an important driver of globalization. When we pick up a latte or cappuccino and distinguish the taste and taste of different kinds of coffee, how much do we know about the origin of different coffees and the hard work?

Commentators often criticize the disparity between the rich and the poor brought about by globalization. depending on the real impact of globalization, we should also explore some profitable production routes of raw materials. After diamonds, oil and other energy and precious substances, coffee is also a raw material known as "black gold". However, from the trade route from production to processing and export, the situation of exploitation of farmers in the producing area is also particularly serious. The exploitation of these farmers does not come from the profit-making behavior of individual traders or groups, but from the operation of the whole price mechanism and production process: coffee as a futures is often affected by sharp fluctuations in price. once farmers grow coffee beans, they are subject to the labor of this kind of trade, so that it is impossible to take care of the original farming. This is the deadliest impact of globalization, and you can only let the price determine your lifestyle and standard.

Because of this, Dean Saikon, the author of the book, became a human rights lawyer advocating "fair trade in coffee" and set up a conscience business, hoping that coffee farmers around the world would be treated equally at fair prices by international standards. He also learned that the game could not focus solely on price, but that trade could only be made fairer by improving the production equipment of coffee farmers, so he also went to these villages to buy coffee making machines for the villagers and improve the water system. "the dispatch from the coffee producing area" is the author's self-account of the experience.

However, this is not an easy task. In terms of price alone, coffee prices around the world will vary according to geographical, economic and other factors, and whether a certain "uniform price" is "fair" to coffee farmers in each region, everyone seems to have different answers. Many multinational groups, such as Starbucks, claim to trade with coffee farmers at a fair price, but which price is fair seems to be the secret of multinational groups. The reason why cross-border trade is exploitative is that the secret of price is always in the minds of these few multinational groups. At the international level, these villagers are isolated and weak. they are faced with national sovereignty and multinational groups with institutions and laws to protect themselves, while the latter two seem to regard the coffee trade as a struggle between the two. Coffee farmers are just chess pieces.

Coffee may be the most common drink in daily life for us, but for coffee farmers in the Oromo region of Ethiopia, coffee is a sacred relic and making coffee is a ritual. The book also says that Ethiopians and Yemenis each claim that coffee is their own discovery, making readers understand that the product has become part of the national myth. It is even more obvious that producers of the coffee trade regard coffee as a living treasure, while we, as consumers, regard it as an ordinary drink, which sounds unfair.

Since the emergence of globalization and the international system, trade is no longer limited to transactions and production, but also involves sovereignty, farmers' survival, ecology and geopolitical issues. Sometimes, the geography and operation patterns of farmers' lives have in turn affected coffee production. For example, even if soaking coffee beans in water is more efficient than drying, people still have to use dry drying in Ethiopia's arid provinces. Another problem is the conflict of ideas between international organizations and indigenous groups. Agricultural cooperatives established by coffee farmers are accused of corruption by international economic organizations, but international economic organizations advocate that individual farmers trade with coffee merchants. Individuals will be more isolated in front of multinational groups. In Kenya, the author argued with a friend who came here on behalf of the International Monetary Fund, who criticized the corruption and monopoly of agricultural cooperatives. This is also true. At the end of the Kenyan chapter, the author also points out that some rural cooperatives simply break away from the Kenyan tillers' cooperative union and contact buyers in the international market directly.

If the example of Kenya shows farmers' mistrust of any official institution and the corruption of official co-operatives, then the examples of Nicaragua and Sumatra in Indonesia even involve conflicts between the government and indigenous peoples and local communities. The mountains of Nicaragua, like other aboriginal settlements in Central American countries, were systematically slaughtered by right-wing government forces, while the mountains of Azi province in Sumatra were mired in a civil war between separatist groups and the government. These examples show that the issues involved in "fair trade in coffee" involve not only economic factors such as coffee prices, farmers' daily income and production costs, but also political factors such as aboriginal issues and inter-ethnic conflicts. The situation in Peru, another coffee producer, is similar to that of Nicaragua: the Bright Road guerrillas often attack government patrols in the Peruvian mountains, killing mountain villagers on both sides, as well as severe floods and earthquakes. and all kinds of natural disasters.