Sheffield P&P's Unfair Funfair
Sheffield University P&P held an Unfair Funfair at their University. Through unfair tugs of war and table football students learned about how trade agreements are weighted in favour of richer countries and were inspired to take action.
Unfair clowns
Unfair tug of war
Unfair table football
Kathryn Cousins from the Sheffield P&P group reports:
As a culmination of our Ethical Awareness week at the Sheffield University’s Studentsī Union, students staged an `Unfair Funfairī to highlight the issue of trade justice. The stunt aimed to raise awareness about unfair trade rules and to encourage students to take action through campaigns.
“Trade is not something that gets talked about as much as other issues, yet unfair trade rules are keeping millions of people in poverty around the world.”, one of the organisers said.
The event included an “unfair” tug-of-war, with one person on one side and seven on the other, symbolising how trade agreements are unfairly weighted in favour of richer, more powerful countries, as well as an unfair table football, and unlucky dips! Kathryn went on to add that whilst buying fairly traded products is a good step, it only benefits a small number of farmers and doesnīt tackle the wider issue.
“If lots of people take action and contact their MPs, politicians will have to take notice and put trade justice back on the agenda.”
The Unionīs Ethical Awareness week also included such events as live performance art, an environmental issues debate and plastic bag knitting!