Thousands of trade justice campaigners will descend on Brighton on the first day of the Labour Party Conference this weekend to lobby the Government on its role in unfair world trade. They will deliver the message that free trade is not fair trade and that Government policy needs a radical change of direction if it is to address injustices in international trade.
The Vote for Trade Justice event will take place from 1.00pm on Sunday 26 September along the Brighton seafront directly in front of the Brighton Conference Centre. It is organised by the Trade Justice Movement, a coalition of aid agencies including Tearfund, environment and human rights campaigns, fair trade organisations, trade unions and faith groups, that are supported by over nine million people in the UK.
Campaigners will call on the Government to use its position and influence to ensure poor countries can make their own decisions on how they tackle poverty and protect their environment. The Government should stop supporting policies that force poor country governments to open their markets whatever the cost.
Trade Justice Movement Coordinator Glen Tarman said: “The British public care deeply about our role in the world and want Britain to be a force for good. Labour says it understands the need for trade justice yet it is pursuing policies that are against the interests of the world’s poorest communities and opposed by many developing countries. Now is the time for it to come good on its rhetoric.
“While the Government has supported the call to stop the dumping of subsidised agricultural products on poor country markets it has much to do to make this a reality. Britain must also take the lead on ensuring that the IMF and World Bank stop imposing damaging trade conditions on poor countries, and making laws that stop big business profiting at the expense of people and the environment.”
The rally will see people from across the UK taking part in a carnival style march, complete with pots, pans, whistles and drums for a colourful and loud Latin American style protest. They will cast their vote for Trade Justice at the mass ‘Ballot on the Beach’ outside the conference centre.
The day includes a rally with speeches from Casualty’s Kwame Kwei-Armah, actor and TV presenter Tony Robinson and Neville Gabriel from the South African Catholic Bishops Conference.
The day’s events mark the launch a new campaign, Vote for Trade Justice, which will run throughout 2005 and aims to collect one million votes for trade justice.
Next year is crucial for the global fight against poverty and unjust world trade including the next ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Hong Kong. The UK Government is in a unique position to take the lead in that fight. In July 2005 it is hosting the G8 meeting of the world’s most powerful countries and takes over the presidency of the EU.
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