Author: Lilliane Ballesteros
Residence Life and Housing Services hosted a trip to Fair Trade LA’s Just Lives Festival on September 30. The event, which featured fair-trade vendors and live entertainment, took place within the Hollywood Farmers’ Market, a street market that occurs every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Resident Advisors Erik Quezada and Deylin Thrift-Viveros (both juniors) helped plan for students to take Bengal Buses to the market after Occidental’s Student Labor Action Coalition (SLAC), the original event host, had trouble funding the event. “A member of SLAC asked me if I wanted to take on the event because the SLAC club does not have a lot of money,” Quezada said. “As RA’s, we get money for programming so I agreed to do it.”
According to an email sent out by the SLAC E-Board, the event was picked up by Res Life primarily due to low funds and because it was planned at the last minute.
“I asked Deylin Thrift-Viveros, an RA in Norris, if he wanted to collaborate and co-program with me,” Quezada said. “He is a member of SLAC, which is why he was involved. Also, RA’s have more money to work with if we co-program.”
Thrift-Viveros, a SLAC E-Board member, expressed interest when he heard about the event being offered through Res Life. “We decided that by making it a Res Life program, we would open it more to the community and involve others besides only the members of SLAC,” he said.
SLAC member Sadie Beauregard (junior) agreed with this comment. “We mainly just wanted to have an avenue for people to go regardless of who provided funds,” she said.
Fair Trade LA is comprised of students from the LA area, the non-profit organization Oxfam America and faith-based organizations. According to the Fair Trade LA website, the organization is an “open, democratically organized group of people who are working for proactive, ideal/realistic solutions in a global movement for social and environmental justice.”
“I am interested in fair trade and thought it would be interesting to go and talk to vendors and others who are more knowledgeable about fair trade,” Beauregard said. “I also think it’s important to support fair trade, as it provides an avenue for better wages and working conditions, and also empowers farmers and craftsmen in building a more sustainable and just global economy.”
SLAC is a group that works toward promoting workers’ rights at Occidental College and in the community by educating students about human rights violations. “SLAC is responsive to events involving human rights issues and social justice, and international trade is a hot button issue in these areas,” Thrift-Viveros said.
SLAC is planning to work with other campus groups to incorporate fair trade products on campus. Beauregard found that the event was beneficial for the students who attended. “I thought the festival was great,” she said. “It was very informative and I connected with several people that I think will be good resources in the future.”
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