[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ER_xCwVpI0[/youtube]
On Saturday 25th October, from 10am until 12noon in Cornmarket Street in Oxford, campaigners from Oxford World Development Movement (WDM) will be catching ‘fat cats’ in a net as part of a campaign for fairer European trade laws that will put people before profits.
WDM campaigner Sam Partington, nets an EU fat cat
Sam Partington, Secretary of Oxford WDM, said, “This is particularly relevant in light of the current global credit crunch – at the moment the European Union is negotiating trade deals with half the countries around the world, which will benefit big business at the expense of a billion people who are living in poverty.”
Big companies are making handsome profits while developing countries’ economies take a battering as prices for commodities fall. Coffee is one example: coffee farmers are now selling their coffee beans for much less than they cost to produce, while there is no evidence of prices falling here. And in Mexico a trade deal led to two million people having to leave their land as the price for maize collapsed – whilst corporate giants reaped the profits.
Kevin Meaney, Chair of Oxford WDM said, “There are over 15,000 lobbyists in Brussels who are dedicated to influencing European policy on behalf of their corporate clients, working secretively and unaccountable to anyone but their clients. Removing regulations on overseas operations is of key interest to these corporate lobbyists in their quest to maximise new profits and this is shown in the new trade deals that Europe is negotiating. This is wrong – people are suffering, so we must speak out against it.”
Mayor of Oxford, Susanna Pressel, netting a fat cat
Susanna Pressel, Mayor of Oxford, supports WDM in its campaign, “We need to support Gordon Brown in his campaign for fairer trade laws in the EU that will reduce the appalling poverty still found in some developing countries. I congratulate WDM for the work they are doing to publicise these important issues. Reducing global poverty is not only morally right, it is also in our long-term economic interests.”
It is possible to trade in a way that benefits the poor; WDM is campaigning for a system that works in the interests of people and the environment, lets developing countries choose their own development policies, is not dominated by corporate interests, and is transparent, democratic and truly representative.
ENDS
Notes:
1. Photo opportunity at 11am, Cornmarket Street.
2. For more details about this campaign please see
http://www.wdm.org.uk/campaigns/trade/index.htm
3. The World Development Movement (WDM) tackles the underlying causes of poverty. We lobby decision makers to change the policies that keep people poor. We research and promote positive alternatives. We work alongside people in the developing world who are standing up to injustice.
Contact: Jenny Nicholson, Oxford WDM: 07766 676371 jenny.nicholson@live.co.uk
