Freedom Has a Cost

Why economic freedom remains incomplete in practice

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been reflecting on the responses to my first two pieces on cultural trade.

The conversations have been thoughtful, but one thing keeps surfacing for me:

We speak about freedom often — especially at this time of year — but we don’t always speak about the systems that make that freedom real.

In my first article, I shared why I am writing about cultural trade.

In the second, I explored how pricing in African fashion often reflects gaps in infrastructure, production, and trade systems — not just value.

And it leaves me with a deeper question, especially in the context of Freedom Day:

What does economic freedom actually look like in practice?

Handcrafted beadwork — a product shaped by identity, labour, and the systems that determine its value.

Because if: 

creators are producing, but not scaling 

markets exist, but are not accessible 

value is created, but not fully captured

then freedom remains partial.

When I think about economic freedom in the creative industry, I don’t only think about markets or pricing.

I think about what it means for a maker to wake up and work — not from a place of uncertainty, but with some level of continuity.

To know that materials can be sourced. 

That orders can be fulfilled. 

That there is a pathway between what is made and where it will go.

Because behind every product is more than a transaction.

It is time. 

It is skill. 

It is care. 

It is a livelihood being shaped, day by day.

And over time, it becomes something more — a story, a sense of identity, even a legacy.

Economic freedom, in this context, is not abstract.

It is the ability for creators to move beyond once-off sales and informal participation, into systems that allow their work to sustain them.

To price with confidence — not defensiveness. 

To access markets — not search endlessly for them. 

To participate in the economy — not at the margins, but as contributors with value.

The work ahead is not only about visibility or participation.

It is about building the systems that make this possible.

Systems that connect production to markets. 

That support consistency. 

That allow value to be understood, negotiated, and retained.

That, to me, is where the conversation on cultural trade connects directly to economic freedom.

Not as a concept, but as something that can be designed, built, and experienced.

Economic freedom is not given. It is built — through the systems that shape how value moves.