Brew Fair! By Kristin Bricker, Brew Not Bombs College Park (Maryland
Brew Not Bombs College Park isn’t just about beer. It’s about brewing social change. We share our hobby of making beers, fair trade coffees, teas and other drinks to engage folks on issues of social justice over a tasty brew.
Brew Not Bombs College Park operates on five basic tenets: Creativity, Fair Trade, Variety, Consciousness-Raising, and Fundraising.
First and foremost, we brew whatever members want to brew. If someone loves nut brown ales, then we’ll brew a nut brown ale. However, a lot of us see homebrewing as a chance to try new and exciting beer flavors. Sometimes we’ll choose flavors and styles that we can’t find in stores. Sometimes we’ll brew a favorite beer that is too expensive to purchase from a liquor store regularly, like a hefeweizen (brew your own, save money, and you’ll have a hefeweizen that tastes better than half the ones in the liquor store!). Other times we’ll try to improve upon a beer that excited us on the store shelf but disappointed us in the glass. We’re particularly inspired by my hometown favorite Dogfish Head’s style – they produce big, flavorful beers brewed with innovative flavors. We use our flavors to incorporate fair trade products into our brews.
Purchasing and brewing with fair trade products is the first way we contribute money to “the cause.” By circumventing the exploitative capitalist free market, fair trade helps build that other world we always say is possible. While the free market pressures farmers to buy GMO seeds and dump pesticides on their plants, workers, and families, fair trade standards allow farmers to preserve their traditional, sustainable farming methods. While GMOs, fertilizers, and pesticides won’t pull small farmers out of poverty, fair trade ensures that they are paid a living wage. This money allows them to undertake grassroots development projects in their communities, breaking the cycle of poverty.
This is why, despite the Zapatista’s ban on alcohol consumption, we put their coffee and honey in our beer. Not only does our distributor, the Human Bean Co., pay fair trade prices to the producers, they also donate 15% of the total cost of their purchases to the Zapatista’s bien gobierno (good government) for development projects in Zapatista communities. Furthermore, according to the Mut Vitz co-op, farmers who do not have enough land to make coffee financially worthwhile gather honey instead. By simply purchasing this coffee and honey, we make a financial contribution to the Zapatistas.
Dogfish Head’s brewmaster once said in an interview that his brews sell themselves because each one has a gimmick. Their Midas Touch brew, for example, is modeled after a recipe discovered in King Midas’ tomb.
Our beers also have interesting stories that motivate people to buy them. We market many of our brews as “fair trade” because we use fair trade ingredients. This gives us a chance to talk to folks about fair trade. We also name our brews after our fundraising efforts. So when folks try our Zapata Mocha Porter and say “Wow! This is really good! What’s in it and who is Zapata?” we have an opportunity to educate them about social justice issues. Our Zapata Mocha Porter is made from fair trade Zapatista cocao, espresso, and coffee. We explain what fair trade is, how it helps the Zapatistas, what the Zapatistas do in Chiapas, why they need international support, and then we tell them that all the proceeds go to refugees of the Acteal massacre in 1997. We can use our fundraising efforts for the refugees to talk about paramilitary violence, and the fact that the refugees are in a desperate situation now that the Red Cross has pulled out to focus more resources on Iraq.
We also use our website to promote the groups we support. We believe in these groups, which is why we give them money, and we want others to do the same. Our Tsunami Relief Hard Cider, for example, raised money for grassroots NGOs to provide relief after the South Asian tsunami. We wanted to make sure that our money went to people who truly needed it, and not the Indonesian military. People who feel similarly can find information on how to donate to grassroots tsunami relief organizations on our website.
One of the most helpful things the Baltimore chapter of BNB taught us (aside from brewing!) is that we need to expand our definition of “brew” to include drinks that can be enjoyed by people who don’t consume alcohol. We sell the coffee, espresso, and honey we brew with at conferences and protests. We’ve found that it is most profitable (and most appreciated) when we’re able to brew our coffee and sell it for 25 cent donations per cup. When folks discover that it’s Zapatista coffee and the tastiest coffee they’ve ever had, they are often moved to give more money, especially because they know we donate 100% of our profits.
We operate Brew Not Bombs on the Industrial Workers of the World’s motto, “Profit is Theft.” We take out money for operating expenses and donate all profits to charity and progressive causes. In its first year of existence, BNB College Park has donated over $800 to a variety of causes, including: the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition, an organization of torture survivors; Life for Relief and Development, to purchase food and medicine for Fallujah during the April siege; United for Peace and Justice and the Anarchist People of Color legal defense funds to defend RNC protesters; and small donations to UMD student groups.
Fundraising is an excellent (and often much-needed) way people can support causes they believe in and the organizations that have been working for years on social justice issues. After three years of campus organizing which ultimately failed to stop the war, raising money for organizations I know do important work is my way of coping with Bush-related burnout. Every time Brew Not Bombs cuts a check for an organization whose work we admire, I experience the satisfaction of achieving our short-term goal and helping an organization achieve their long-term ones. Having volunteered and worked for non-governmental organizations in the past, I know how important it is for these groups to receive the kind of no-strings-attached money BNB offers, as opposed to grants from corporations or philanthropists. Grassroots fundraising makes NGOs accountable to the people they are designed to serve, instead of rich funders and big foundations. Furthermore, it enables us to financially support organizations that are neglected by big funders altogether.
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