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THE WIRRAL FAIR TRADER – SEPT 2005
Is there any point in having an organisation like Wirral Trade Justice? When it was formed just over two years ago, there were – and still are – plenty of other similar organisations which target the same people and raise the same issues. We felt that having a very sharp focus – one small area, Wirral, and one very specific target, trade justice – would bring people into the campaigning network who would otherwise be unlikely to go on demonstrations, pester their MPs and struggle to get the message over locally. Do you agree? Some people have said that we are just duplicating what other better- resourced organisations are already doing more effectively. Should we just spend our time and effort working with Christian Aid, CAFOD, WDM and so on? Do you have a view on this? Why not let us know? In the meantime our target is to get our membership up to 400 by next summer. We have nearly 200 paid-up members now and, at £2 a head for life membership, it will be easy for each of you to sign up one person and we’ll be nearly there!
HESWALL MEETING WITH MYLES WICKSTEAD AND BEN CHAPMAN MP This meeting was held in Heswall on 26 July and was attended by about 60 people. MYLES WICKSTEAD, until recently head of the Secretariat of the Africa Commission and Ambassador in Addis Ababa, gave a very upbeat talk about the Commission’s recommendations and his hopes that the G8 summit would adopt them and deliver them. His optimism was not shared by everyone, but he was able to point to some favourable indications. A new partnership with Africa seems to be emerging so that the receiving countries can have ownership of plans which are meant to relieve poverty. This is partly because of new rules, mainly framed by the UK Government, to impose only those conditions on aid which are acceptable to independent countries. These conditions refer to measures of success of policies, preservation of human rights, control of corruption and reductions in arms expenditure.
MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY What happenend at the G8 Summit? Christian Aid’s spokesperson said ‘It was a sad day for the poor people in Africa.’ War on Want said ‘Geldof and Bono decided they were bigger than the campaign and were pursuing their own strategy’. World Development Movement said ‘The G8 said absolutely nothing on trade’. Geldof said ‘You can take a totally oppositional stance to everything or you can use the platforms that people give you’. Your editor inclines to go with Geldof, but even Geldof has given the UN only 4/10 for the failure of the recent summit. What do you think? In the meantime, the ‘Vote for Trade Justice’ campaign will continue until December. WTJ members, alongside members of Churches Together in Upton, will be collecting votes at SAINSBURY’S IN UPTON ON SATURDAY 15 OCTOBER If you want to help with this, please contact Ceri Tector on 0151 648 2665
LOBBY OF PARLIAMENT WEDNESDAY 2 NOVEMBER 2005 This is the date for the mass lobby of Parliament which is being organised by the Trade Justice Movement and MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY. Can you spare a day to join this campaigning effort? It is timed to influence the outcome of the World Trade Organisation’s Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong from 13 to 18 December. If the numbers are as great as they have been in the other rallies, politicians will be forced to realise that rich countries must give developing countries a fair deal on trade conditions. Some of our members are going by train and there will be coaches from Liverpool and Chester. Details from Alan Vernon, on 0151 342 3398
UNITED NATIONS SUMMIT, WEDNESDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER, 2005 Reform of the United Nations and its position on many crucial issues of today remain largely unresolved. However, it seems that at least there has been an agreement to maintain the Millenium Development Goals which seemed for a time to be under threat. But President Bush’s offer to scrap all tariffs and subsidies, if every other country did so, was phony. The US wants a level playing field because it knows it’s got a stronger team. FREE TRADE IS NOT FAIR TRADE. It looks as though WTJ members will have to frighten the global politicians into doing something!
WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION This much-criticised body remains perhaps the best available mechanism for improving some aspects of the international trading regime. Our website has been following the progress of the disputes between the European Union and Brazil (and other countries) on sugar dumping, and between USA and Brazil on cotton. In both cases the WTO has ruled in favour of the poor countries and the EU and the USA have finally been forced to accept the rulings against them. Progress is slow but measurable. On sugar the countries are simply awaiting the appointment of an independent arbitrator to fix the timetable; and on cotton the US Congress has before it draft legislation to enable it to meet the demands of the WTO rules. This is certainly one route worth following and let’s hope that other opportunities present themselves. Maybe we will get that domino effect.
AUTUMN MEETING We have booked St Stephen’s Church Hall for our AGM on Sunday 16 October. Janet Blackman, who is a National Board member of the United Nations Association (UK), will be the speaker and her subject will be:
THE POLITICS OF POVERTY – ACHIEVING THE UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS Janet is a retired academic and presently is co-editor of the "International Journal Of Social History". This promises to be a significant contribution to the debate about the future of the United Nations and its influence on the whole question of Third World poverty, including issues relating to trade. Try to get to this important meeting and bring a friend. Details on the attached notice - which please display if you can.
WEBSITE To log on to the WTJ website go to www.wtj.org.uk Published by Jack Heery, 10 Marlfield Lane ,Wirral, CH61 1AJ; 0151 648 1930
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