Big Bang for fair trade

MARTIN DE RUYTER/Nelson Mail

TRADITION: Susanna Ate Mafie'o performs a Tongan dance at the Trade Aid Big Bang on Saturday.

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Nelsonians are being urged to lobby supermarkets to stock Fair Trade bananas.

Trade Aid trustee John Marshall called on the crowd gathered for its Big Bang event at the top of Trafalgar St on Saturday to support the campaign.

"We are asking you to go to supermarkets asking them to stock Fair Trade bananas and tell them if they do, you will buy them," he said. "We want you to change the buying patterns the way you have done for Fair Trade coffee and chocolate, and now for bananas."

Mr Marshall told the crowd that New Zealanders ate more bananas per head than any other nation. "It's our most popular fruit and cheapest. The reason it is cheapest is because most plantation workers are paid less than $3 a day," he said.

He urged consumers to sign and send pre-written cards to supermarkets pledging they would buy Fair Trade-labelled bananas.

Trade Aid Big Bang was a global Fair Trade day of action "to beat poverty, beat climate change and beat the economic crisis".

The Nelson event had a line of performers playing, drumming and singing throughout the day. It started at the 1903 square with a group of 16 Samoan seasonal workers, used to 30-degree Celsius heat, dancing bare-chest in 1.5-degree cold.

Other groups included the Mosaics, West African-inspired Konkoba, Swiss hang drummers and Raijin Taiko drummers.

The audience was able to tie Trade Aid cards to a Pledge Wall noting what action they would take. The pledges included buying eco-friendly gifts and drinking Fair Trade coffee.

Nine-year-old Tanisha Lawrence pledged not to fight with her family for a week. "Because every day I fight with my two brothers," she said.

Neneh Martin, 12, pledged not to eat fatty foods for a week. "Because I like junk food and it's not good for you," she said.

- © Fairfax NZ News