3 - Paper

Summary

After attempts to target national and international politics stalled, the network of groups concerned with fair trade regrouped around local activism. This chapter shows how paper was a crucial product to understand the strand of activism which emerged in the 1970s: it served as a medium for groups across Europe to keep in contact but was also the main carrier of information about the injustices the movement tried to address through distributing leaflets, posters, and books. Activism in many places was anchored by so-called world shops, which had first emerged in the Netherlands at the end of the 1960s as meeting places for activists with similar concerns. The model quickly spread throughout Europe, offering activists a way to come together around a diverse set of issues, which they first and foremost addressed in their own neighbourhoods. The chapter offers an alternative reading of 1970s activism, claiming that social activism did not subside but rather shifted towards local activities, which has been less visible to contemporary observers as well as historians.