Tadesse Meskela
Black Gold: The Story Behind Your Morning Cup of Joe
When: Monday, February 26, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Carnegie Institution, 1530 P St. N.W.
Multinational coffee companies now dominate the industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil. But while consumer continue to pay for lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields.
So, how does this relate to the debt issue? What would happen if buyers were willing to pay a fair price to Ethiopians coffee growers? Well, for starters these nations would be less dependent on foreign aid/international financial insitutions to finance much-needed services like healthcare, utilities and education.
Black Gold follows Tadesse Meskela as he travels the world to find buyers willing to pay a fair price, and help him save 74,000 struggling Ethiopian coffee farmers from bankruptcy. Against the backdrop of Tadesse's journey to London and Seattle, the enormous power of the multinational players that dominate the world's coffee trade becomes apparent. New York commodity traders, the international coffee exchanges, and the double dealings of trade ministers at the World Trade Organisation reveal the many challenges Tadesse faces in his quest for a long term solution for his farmers.
After the movie, you can learn more about -- and taste -- fair trade coffee that represents a better deal for farmers and farming communities.
To help us spread the word about Fair Trade coffee to the people who work with coffee every day, you'll find a set of tickets here that you can use to invite your barista or local grocer to see Black Gold. Even if you can't attend, please take a moment this week to offer a free pass to the person in your neighborhood who sells you coffee. Invite him or her to consider, by watching Black Gold, how conventional trade affects Ethiopian coffee farmers.
RSVP: 202.872.5321 or [email protected]
SPONSORS: Abol Coffee Inc., Co-op America, Fair Trade Federation, Oxfam America, Sierra Club- DC Chapter
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