Ethiopians Sing For Coffee

In Ethiopia coffee producers have used a novel way to bring attention to their plight. Ethiopian music and soccer stars decided to add their voice to the ‘Big Noise’ campaign that aims to achieve a fair price for coffee growers.

The petition campaign, organised by Oxfam International, Panos and the Ethiopian coffee unions, attracted the high-profile support of the likes of gold medal winning marathon runner Haile Gebrselassie. Fittingly, musician Teddy Mosisa wrote a song, ‘Buna’ (an Amharic word meaning coffee) - in the campaign’s honour.

It is hoped this mass action will maintain pressure on the industrialised world to fulfil their promises of ending the many injustices in the global coffee trading system.