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  • From: Keith Johnson <keithdj@mindspring.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] consumers duties (circa 1936)
  • Date: Sun, 02 Dec 2007 11:26:15 -0500

Excerpt from "Why the Village Movement" by Gandhian
philosopher and economist J. C. Kumarappa.
As you are planning your holiday shopping, consider the following excerpt
from his chapter on "The Role of Women" written in 1936.

CONSUMERS DUTIES

Often buyers are only concerned with satisfying their own requirements as
near as possible and as cheaply as they can. This way of going about the
business is to shirk one's duties. What are the duties of an effective
consumer or buyer? When buying an article of everyday use one has to take
account of the full repercussions of one's transaction.
1) One should know where the article comes from,
2) Who makes the article?
3) Under what conditions do the workers live and work?
4) What proportions of the final price do they get as wages?
5) How is the rest of the money distributed?
6) How is the article produced?
7) How does the industry fit into the national economy?
8) What relation has it to the other nations?

DISCRIMINATE BUYING

If the buyer has to make her influence felt, the further afield she goes
for her goods, the less will be the power of her influence at such distance,
the less the chances of her information on various points raised being
accurate, and the less will be her personal interest. If the goods come from
a source which may be tainted with exploitation, either of sweat labor or of
the political, financial or economic hold over other nations, or classes, or
races, then the buyer of such goods will be a party to such exploitation,
just as a person who buys stolen articles from a "chore bazar" creates a
market for stolen goods and thus will be encouraging the art of stealing.
Therefore, any one who buys goods indiscriminately is not discharging her
full responsibility when the sole criterion of her buying is merely the low
price or the good quality of the goods. Hence, we should buy good only from
sources from which full information is readily available and which source
can be brought under our influence; otherwise we shall have to shoulder a
share of the blame for sweat labour, political slavery, or economic
stranglehold. We cannot absolve ourselves of the all blame by merely
pleading ignorance in regard to the source.

If the raw materials for making cocoa are obtained from plantations on the
West coast of Africa which use some form of forced native labour, are
carried by vessels on sea routes monopolised or controlled by violence,
manufactured in England with sweated labour and brought to India under
favorable customs duties enforced by political power, then a buyer of a tin
of cocoa patronises the forced labour conditions in the West coast of
Africa, utilizes the navy and so partakes in violence, gains by the low
wages or bad conditions of the workers in England and takes advantage of the
political subjection of India. All this responsibility and more also is put
into a little tin of cocoa!

Are we prepared to shoulder this grave responsibility and pander to our
palate or shall we content ourselves with a cup of nutritious milk drawn
from a well-kept cow at our door? These considerations are not far-fetched
but actual. Anyone who looks on life seriously and as a trustee cannot
afford to ignore these far-reaching consequences of her actions.

--
Keith Johnson
"Be fruitful and mulch apply."
Permaculture Activist Magazine
PO Box 5516, Bloomington, IN 47407
(812) 335-0383
http://www.permacultureactivist.net
http://www.PermacultureTradingPost.com
Switch to Solar Power the Easy Way
http://www.jointhesolution.com/KeithJ-SunPower
http://www.PowUr.com/KeithJ-SunPower
Blog: http://kjpermaculture.blogspot.com/
also Patterns for Abundance Design & Consulting
http://www.permacultureactivist.net/design/Designconsult.html
also Association for Regenerative Culture
http://www.ARCulture.org
also APPLE-Bloomington (Alliance for a Post-Petroleum Local Economy) It's a
small world after oil.
http://www.relocalize.net/groups/applebloomington
also Bloomington Permaculture Guild


  • [permaculture] consumers duties (circa 1936), Keith Johnson, 12/02/2007

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