Ethics and Social Justice Campaigns
Hello, I’m Lorna Russell, a third year Politics student and this year’s Ethics and Social Justice Campaigns Officer. This year I will be focussing on four key areas: fairtrade, ethical fashion, ethical careers and fighting for social justice.
Fairtrade
Our University and Students’ Union are very good on fairtrade policies and both have achieved fairtrade status (in fact I’m in the process of renewing these statuses right now!). All outlets in the University and Union provide fairtrade coffee, tea and hot chocolate, Costcutter has a wide range of fairtrade products for sale such as chocolate and bananas, the Union uniforms and Freshers t-shirts are mandated to all be fairtrade and the University and Union have a joint fairtrade steering group. I’m also happy to say that Cadbury’s Dairy Milk is now a certified fairtrade product!
However this does not mean that the issue of fairtrade should be forgotten or ignored. Fairtrade Fortnight is taking place in term 2 and I am hoping to organise a series of events and talks for this, so look out for this later in the year.
N.B. For those students living in Leamington, check out Gaia for fairtrade and vegetarian and vegan products (just left at the bottom of the parade and has a great range of tofu that I can’t find anywhere else locally). In Coventry, the Holy Trinity Church also stock a huge selection of fairtrade goodies (on Trinity Street in the Town Centre).
Other useful links:
The Fairtrade Foundation
Traidcraft
Ethical Fashion
The clothing world is a realm that affects us all, yet it is one of the more unethical and irresponsible industries, be it the producers or the consumers. So this year I aim to tackle this issue, highlighting the benefits and attractiveness of fairtrade clothing and emphasising the destitution faced by of sweatshop workers.
I am aiming to work with Warwick Aesthet(h)ics to run projects to approach the topic of development using fashion as a medium. Together this year we will be hosting events such as swishing socials, recycling initiatives, charity fashion shows, vintage and charity shopping trips, photo shoot competitions, trips to ethical fashion events around the UK including London Fashion Week and will be a part of the One World Week Fashion Show, where we will include a whole feature of ethical fashion.
I will also be working with War On Want on their Love Fashion Hate Sweatshops campaigns and am hoping to host a series of talks and workshops with them on campus to promote awareness about this issue.
Also if you are part of a Union Society please do think about choosing the companies you order your clothing from carefully. Ethos have a list of ethical, fairtrade companies that make society clothing and will give you a special accreditation if you order your clothes from them, so check out their website to find out more.
Other useful links:
Thread Me
Eco Fashion World
Ethical Fashion Show
No Sweat
Careers with a conscience
Did you know that between 2001 and 2006 the University received a minimum of £1.8 million from arms companies? A large consequence of this is that military and oil corporations have a big presence on campus, particularly at our careers fair. Yet the University does not have an ethical careers fair to counter this.
This has to change.
Other universities such as Cambridge, Imperial, Sheffield Hallam and Cardiff have them so why can’t we? I will fight for our right to have a more ethical presence on campus and widen the choice.
I will also focus on improving the accessibility and availability of information on ethical careers. I hope to inform engineers about ethical options such as Wardell Armstrong LLP and AECOM so they don’t feel pressured into working for arms or oil companies, scientists about companies like Scientists for Global Responsibility and business students about the merits of working for organisations like The Co-operative Group and Audit Commission so that they can make informed judgements about whether or not they want to go into the corporate industries. I am also hoping to work with the careers service to improve the communication between the university and the students regarding talks, workshops and employers.
Other useful links:
Campaign Against Arms Trade
Study War No More
War on Want
The fight for Social Justice and Equality
What does equality and social justice mean to you? Do you think that Britain is an equal society? If not, how should we best go about achieving equality? These are just some of the questions that I hope to have discussions and workshops on in the coming year.
For more information about specific campaigns about social justice issues (such as LGBT and women’s issues) speak to the relevant liberation campaigns officer or society.
If you’re interested in finding out more about any of this please contact me on esjcampaigns@warwicksu.com.