Thousands of people from across the country braved torrential rain on Wednesday in one of the largest ever mass lobbies of Parliament, which called for more just global trading rules in order to lift millions of people out of poverty.
Hundreds of MPs were invited out onto the pavements of Westminster to meet a total of around 8000 constituents who were calling for the UK to take a lead in changing global trade rules to benefit developing countries instead of harming them.
“We are here to voice our objection to the way world trade is run,” stated Tearfund supporter Norman Berrill, who with his wife Janet and others travelled from Walsall in the West Midlands to London in order to meet Richard Shepherd, MP for Aldridge-Brownhills.
Said Janet, a Tearfund volunteer: “We must keep chipping away at the rock that is poverty. The campaigning of ordinary people before the G8 Summit was one step forward. Unless we take actions like this lobbying today nothing will change.”
Those attending the lobby event were urging the UK Government and its partners in the European Union to stop forcing free trade on poor countries by pushing them to open their economies through world trade talks. They were also calling on the UK and European Union (EU) to respect the right of poor countries to decide on the trade policies that will help end poverty and protect their environment. This would allow countries the freedom to choose the best policies for poor people in services such as water, health and education and policies that will protect vulnerable farm sectors and promote national industries.
William Wilson, (17), and Holly Dunbar, (15), were among the Tearfund supporters who joined the lobby. The two members of Soul Survivor in Harrow spoke at length to their MP Gareth Thomas, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for International Development.
“We asked him to pressure the EU on issues of trade ahead of the forthcoming World Trade Organisation talks in December and I asked him how he was using for good his role as Under Secretary of State, reported William. “We had a good conversation and he promised to use his influence. Talking to your MP is a small act, but we feel we are doing something positive on behalf of poor people.”
Richard and Maggie Morris from Peckham, South London, who had taken a youth group from Peckham and Dulwich Community Church to the G8 Summit in July, were there to meet Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media & Sport.
“By being here we believe we are influencing the future of poor countries by talking to people who have more power than we do,” commented Richard.
The mass lobby day started with a Tearfund prayer service in Westminster Central Hall, where Jeremy Jennings, director of prayer at Holy Trinity Brompton Church, said that justice was ‘at the heart of the character of God’ and that prayer was a powerful weapon in the fight against oppression, poverty, exploitation and injustice.’
His words were echoed by Andy Atkins, Director of Advocacy at Tearfund who encouraged the congregation to pray for members of parliament. He concluded: “We worship a God who does care, who does hear our prayers, who does act.”
The message of the mass lobby will be echoed across Europe as national governments are lobbied by ordinary citizens for more just trading rules, including a European wide lobby in Brussels on 21 November. This mobilisation is timed to put pressure on Trade Ministers from the 25 EU nations meeting for the last time to finalise the EU's negotiating position for the crucial trade talks at the WTO in Hong Kong December.