Friday, July 10, 2009

Not For Sale Has a New Website.. and Blog!

Attention! I am happy to announce (a little late I know) that Not For Sale Campaign has a new website and a new blog! For information please check visit www.notforsalecampaign.org. Within months of launching this new site we have were named 40 top non-profit websites in the world!

Thanks everyone for following our blog and for being up on everything in Not For Sale Ville!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

How To Become A Backyard Abolitionist By Buying Differently


Brant Christopher, Artist in Residence, discusses how anyone can become a Backyard Abolitionist. In the Podcast Brant talks about how every individual can "live differently" by signing up on Free2work to begin buying differently.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Batstone Keynote Address

On February 24th San Francisco held a community forum on human trafficking. Not For Sale had a major presence at the gathering. In the morning I co-moderated a break-out session with the manager of San Francisco's Department of Public Health, Dr. Johnson Ojo.

Not For Sale president, David Batstone, delivered the keynote address. Watch first segment of the keynote below or watch all segments here.



- Mark Wexler

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Cadbury to Certify Milk Chocolate as Fair Trade

The Stick... and Now the Carrot

In a landmark announcement Cadbury Chocolate, one of the major chocolate manufactures primarily operating in the U.K. stated that they would certify that their dairy-milk chocolate is Fair Trade by the end of summer 2009. In a statement issued Today, Chief Executive for Cadbury, Todd Stitzer said:
"This is an historic moment for our company. I am proud that the nation’s favourite chocolate bar will display the FAIRTRADE Mark. I was in Ghana last month and saw how vital it is that businesses support their partners and the communities they live in. We believe that by joining forces with the Fairtrade Foundation, we can further improve living standards and conditions for farmers and farming communities, and create a sustainable supply of high quality cocoa for Cadbury."

Through this single decision Cadbury has increased the amount of Certified Fair Trade Chocolate sold by three fold. While Cadbury's decision does not change the need to certify all chocolate produced "Free to Work", it is a step in the right direction.

The movement to ensure all chocolate is produced using free labor began by a small, but persistent, population of people demanding change (the stick) and Cadbury chocolate has responded. Increased responsibility has now turned back to Consumers Advocates. With an increased portion of revenue, we as consumers MUST prove to Cadbury, and the other major chocolate companies, that this behavior will be rewarded with increased profits (the Carrot).

Cadbury's decision will not solve the problem within the chocolate industry, nor do they get a free pass on the rest of their chocolate, but it is a huge step in the right direction.

As consumers we must prove that Fair Trade Certification has a competative advantage over non-Fair Trade Chocolate.

Learn what you can do as a consumer at www.Free2work.org




Kilian Moote
Program Director

Thursday, February 12, 2009

New UN Report on Human Trafficking


The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is releasing a new global report it conducted on human trafficking today. The report will not mention any new quantitative estimates but instead focus on current global trends.

Some highlights of the report:
-In Central Asia and Eastern Europe 60% of convicted traffickers are woman
-The South African region reported the weakest in combating human trafficking. Of the 11 countries only Zambia has prosecuted suspects since 2003
-79% of the victims were found to be exploited sexually
-Cases of human trafficking previously overlooked included forced marriages, ritual killings, and organ harvesting

Overall the report found that although efforts globally have increased substantially since 2003 the majority of countries still remain ill-equipped to combat human trafficking.

The full-report should be made available on the UN resources page soon.

Kilian Moote

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Free2Work Soft Launch!


Not For Sale is excited to announce that Free2Work.org is now up and ready for your consumption.

Free2Work follows in the Not For Sale model of open source activism. It allows you to be a part of the abolitionist process by using your power as a researcher, investigator and news junkie! Free2Work's platform allows you to report information (both good and bad) about companies. If a company deserves recognition as a Free2Work company - which has taken a pledge to independently verify their supply chain - you'll know about them. Conversely if a company needs urging to change their practices they'll be placed on a 'watch list'.

So the next time you're about to buy some chocolate, a new pair of shoes, or even a new car we encourage you to take a look at Free2Work so that you purchase from a company known to do business in a Free2Work manner.

We hope you enjoy navigating around Free2Work and choose to sign up as a Free2Work investigator.


-Mark Wexler

Monday, February 9, 2009

FREE Download - Not For Sale the Audiobook


Get Not For Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade--and How We Can Fight It audio book -- for free! This one-time offer only lasts through the end of February so go download the critically acclaimed book written by Not For Sale Campaign, President, David Batstone. The audio book was made available by the amazing folks at ChristianAudio.com.

While you're there download the brand new Set the Captives Free Bible study brought to you by Not For Sale... again, for free.

Remember, Not For Sale offers many free resources to gear up the abolitionist movement.


- Mark Wexler