What are we doing?
Fair Trade and Traidcraft
Lobbying Parliament!
27 June 2002
The weather was fine, the atmosphere electric, the result fantastic! The mass lobby for trade justice proved its power yesterday as it penetrated the top echelons of government, received messages of support from rockstars, Archbishops and Presidents and illustrated in full glory real democracy in action.
Highlights
• Over 12,000
campaigners from every corner of the UK converge on Westminster to take
part
• Over 320 MPs lobbied (90 is usually considered very good!)
• Tony Blair meets with Trade Justice Movement delegates
• MPs full of praise
• Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa, sends message of support.
Tony
Blair responds
The day began
with representatives of the Trade Justice Movement being called to a meeting
at Number 10 with Baroness Symons, Minister for Trade and the
Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Martin
Drewry, Christian Aid's Head of Campaigns who attended the meeting said:
'This meeting gave us the opportunity we needed to state clearly what we
are calling for and challenge the government to change their policies. And
the fact that the government requested it is a recognition at a senior
level that the mass lobby is an important political event.'
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BBC News: Blair meets campaigners
continued in main body text
In the Church
In the Community & World
The
logo for Traidcraft has the caption Fighting poverty through trade.
It is a very simple statement, which resonates with the Christian
conviction that we should help our neighbours. So what does this mean?
It means three basic things:
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paying people in the "third world" fair prices |
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giving them credit when they need it |
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working together for a better future |
Millions
of families in developing countries don't get a fair share of the wealth
created by their own skill and effort and the resources of their land.
This is largely because of the way international trade is controlled by
the rich countries. It's a system which is both unjust and a major cause
of continuing world poverty.
Traidcraft is working to change this injustice, by creating opportunities - for the poor in the "third world" to work their way to a better quality of life, and for people here to join a movement for change that's working for the fairer conduct of international trade.
For producers in the "third world" trading fairly means a number of things:
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It means they can look forward to receiving a fair price for their skill and effort and the crops they produce. Too often, in the free market, they are exploited and fail to benefit. Getting a fair price means they can often do the things we take for granted, like sending the kids to school, or going to see the doctor, without worry over how they can afford it. |
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It means where necessary, they can get access to credit at reasonable rates. Many producers are crippled, not necessarily by the low prices they get for their goods, but by the high rates of interest charged by moneylenders. Where necessary, Traidcraft will give advance payments so that producers can buy raw materials without resorting to moneylenders. |
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It means they can look forward to a long-term relationship that is a real partnership on both sides, taking into account their interests, not just the interests of those buying their products. That means they know they can plan for the future. |
These
are just a few reasons why fair trade is such a challenging, revolutionary
and important idea, and why we must encourage people
to join the fight for justice in international trade.
As a body, the church is called to live out the values of the Kingdom of God here on earth - and be concerned for love and justice. In this respect we need to consider how our purchases reflect that. Buying fairly traded products is one way of putting our talk into action. We spend far more on buying than we ever do in giving. Your choice of purchase can make a real difference to the lives of people in the "third world".
St Andrew's Traidcraft Stall
A
selection of fairly traded goods are available after each Sunday service
and on various other occasions. A catalogue is available for other items
to be ordered.
The purpose of the stall is to raise the awareness of trade issues as it impacts the developing world and to provide a source of fairly traded goods. The purpose is not to raise money for St Andrew's. Indeed, St Andrew's provided the seed money to get the stall going. Once this loan has been paid off any profit will be used to extend the stock, buy promotional materials and support Christian Aid.
Contact: Mrs Carolyn Johnston, (01698) 828633
Or buy fairly traded goods online from site run by Traidcraft, Oxfam and Yahoo!:
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continued from side bar...
Lobbying Parliament
The
praise floods in
Confirmation
that the lobby was having an impact continued throughout the day as
messages of support came in unprompted from South
African President Thabo Mbeki and Dr George Carey, the Archbishop
of Canterbury.
MPs were also full of praise:'The best organised lobby I've ever seen' said Jeremy Corbyn, MP for Islington North. 'A wonderful, wonderful day' said Rudi Viz, MP for Finchley and Golders Green.
'I
can tell you that what you are doing out there is causing a great stir
inside this place.' said Hywel Williams, MP for Caernarfon.
The praise and
acknowledgement continued in the debate on world poverty which took place
inside the House of Commons. MP after MP referred to the importance of the
day and the need to do more to tackle poverty.
Rock
band Radiohead also lent their support, helping Anita Roddick
to kick off the Mexican wave of noise which flowed round the queue at 4pm.
Democracy
in action
The
actual lobbying took place both inside the House of Commons and outside
along the queue. Some MPs were ferried to their constituents via rickshaw,
others simply walked round, many spending over an hour talking through the
issues.
Campaigners challenged their MPs to do all they could to call for the rules and practices that govern trade to be rewritten so they reduce poverty and protect the environment. They asked their MPs specifically to sign the Early Day Motion on Trade and take the issues up with Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
Campaigners
who were unable to meet their MPs filled in green cards, which will be
forwarded to their MP, stating they were there and why.
Dennis Skinner
MP said: 'This is one of the best lobbies I've seen - it's been a splendid
occasion and I'll be supporting you hook, line and sinker in every action
that I take in Parliament.'
Debating the
issues
At a series of
events, rallies and seminars campaigners heard from a range of high
profile speakers, many of whom work daily with people affected by trade
rules.
Sergio Cobo, Director of Fomento, which works with poor famers in Mexico,
said, 'Worldwide 800 million people are going hungry every day. I work
with some of those people. How loud do we have to shout, how hungry do we
have to be before we get justice?'
Martin
Khor of the Third World Network issued a strong challenge to
campaigners: 'Your governments are responsible for people dying,' he said.
'When you wake up each morning I want you to be filled with anger and
passion and to think "what am I going to do to make my government
listen? What am I going to do make trade work for poor people?"'
The start of
a long journey
There's a great
deal of work to be done to build the campaign for trade justice in to the
global movement it needs to be. And we need to continue lobbying the
government to push for change on trade rules. But there's no doubt that
the mass lobby for trade justice has had a huge impact.
Sophie Dodgeon, who helped organise the lobby on behalf of Christian Aid, said 'This day has far exceeded our expectations. We've made ourselves and our campaign known to politicians and we've shown that people want to see change. Congratulations to everyone who took part.'
(Text of article from Christian Aid web site)
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