THE LIVING ROOMS

Eco Echo column July 2010

Blow Your Trumpet, Africa!

Unless you have been living underground for the past few weeks, you will have noticed that there is a certain football tournament going on at the moment.  Now if you are fed up to the back teeth of wall-to-wall coverage, don’t turn the page – I promise I am not going to be a soccer bore in this month’s column.

Two things have struck me about the tournament on a wider context, though.  First, the vuvuzelas, those cheap plastic trumpets which have turned the soundtrack of the World Cup into something resembling a swarm of angry bees. 

Have you noticed that there have been calls to ban them, principally from the European nations?  Clearly no thought has been given to the fact that in a nation where there are many languages spoken and many tribal loyalties, the vuvuzela is a powerful (and loud) expression of unified support for the South African team. 

I can understand players being annoyed that they can’t communicate because of the din, but it’s the same for everyone, so they should just get on with it and rejoice in a different cultural expression of the love of the global game.

For the World Cup, we at The Living Rooms decided to try and source fair and ethically-traded goods from each of the 32 countries taking part to sell in our showroom (small businesses have to jump on every promotional angle they can find…).

It’s been an interesting exercise.  While we already stock goods from some of the countries, it has been a struggle finding items which meet our ethical standards from many, both in the west and in the developing world.  If you add in tea, coffee and chocolate it becomes a little easier, but even so, it is alarming how many of the countries currently playing on the world stage do not feature in the fair trade world.  We have a lot of work still to do.

At least the critics of the decision to give the tournament to South Africa are being proved wrong.  Although there are legitimate arguments that money spent on expensive stadia could be spent on schools and medical facilities, it has given that country a chance to shine on the world stage, and to prove that it can compete – both economically and in sporting terms – with the rest of the world.  That is an important step in becoming a sustainable economic entity.

At the time of writing, England are still in it.  However, it looks like being a World Cup where emerging nations are starting to threaten the supremacy of the traditional masters of the game.  Let us hope that this emergence is reflected in economic power as well, because if we can create a more level playing field, then we will all be winners.

Article published in Eco Echo July 2010