The coke thread got me thinking about fair trade products.

I think they miss the point entirely.

The purchaser of fair trade products is labouring under the misapprehension that they as a consumer have the ability to affect change through their own purchases. Firstly its a monumentally arrogant mindset to think that you make a difference, it's this whole 'Look at me!! Saving the world' aesthetic to it which I find most disgusting, and secondly its such a horrible consumerist outlook to define yourself and your ethics by the shit that you buy.

I don't think that fair trade is bad thing necessarily; I just think nothing will change by individual action alone. If people were to organise in groups and take collective action, like student unions are doing, this is difference, because as a group you do have power.