Alternative Globalization Addressing Peoples and Earth

3. PART
3. JUST TRADE
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Woe to you who make unjust decrees and who write
oppressive laws, to turn aside the needy from justice and
to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows
may be your spoil and that you may make
the orphans your prey.
3.1 From free trade to just trade
(Isaiah 10:1-4)
Trade is about relationships and exchange of goods and services. Agape
calls for reciprocity, mutuality, respect and solidarity in just relationships.
Justice in trade relationships is a biblical principle. Amos, echoing the
other prophets, decries those who “practice deceit with balances” and who
“buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals” (Amos 8:5f.).
Justice for the poor remains the test of any system. Abolishing inequalities
must apply at all levels of trade.
The current trade system has resulted in global inequality and injustice.
Unlimited economic growth and wealth accumulation are the two pillars
of the dominant paradigm that drive so-called “free trade”. The current
trade system simply attempts to regulate markets for the benefit of the
owners of capital and, as such, it is inherently unjust. It violates the gospel
values of neighbourly love, participation, and just sharing, both in terms
of its institutional framework and the values on which it operates.
The Christian community is called to an even more radical standard of
sharing and solidarity, and to reject seeing everything in terms of exchange
values. Agape – similar to the eucharist - stands as a symbol and sign of