St Mary's Twyford, St James Ruscombe, and the United Reformed Church, Twyford   

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MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY

 

Did you see news coverage of Nelson Mandela in Trafalgar Square recently, with his call to Make Poverty History? Did you see Gordon Brown expressing hope that the recent meeting of G7 finance ministers in London will be remembered as an ‘historic breakthrough’? Can you remember that they agreed for the first time to the principle of 100% Debt relief? What’s it all about?

Christian Aid, Oxfam, CAFOD, Comic Relief, churches, trade unions and a host of celebrities and organisations have joined in what could become the most powerful coalition ever against world poverty.

As Archbishop Desmond Tutu said:

'2005 is a year of great opportunity. If everyone who wants to see an end to poverty, hunger and suffering speaks out, then the noise will be deafening. Politicians will have to listen.'

The government is already showing signs of delivering greater debt relief and more aid. This is good but without trade justice for the world’s poor, poverty will remain at the scandalous levels it is today. Christian Aid aims to use 2005 to persuade the UK and other G8 governments to act on trade justice. There are three major events arranged for this year:

 

For more information on these events, please see the Christian Aid website.



Global Week of Action in Twyford

Campaigners from the Twyford churches (of the Local Ecumenical Partnership of Anglican and URC churches) took an active part in the Global Week of Action (10 – 16 April). There was a 24 hour Prayer Vigil and a 24 hour fast ending with a feast, a Beer and Curry supper in St Mary’s Church Centre, on Monday 11th.

The Prayer Vigil had been supported by five prayer stations, deliberately developed to focus attention on the issue of Trade Justice. In the light of views expressed about the value of these prayer stations they were retained in St Mary’s for a further week.

Campaigners from Twyford joined about 25,000 others in the overnight Wake up for Trade Justice vigil in Westminster last Friday/Saturday, rounding off with a mass march past Downing Street, where overnight Whitehall had been lit up with thousands of candles.

The events were also reported in local newspapers.

 

Mass Lobby of Parliament

Five of us joined in a mass lobby of Parliament on Wednesday 2 November, calling for trade justice not free trade. We joined over 8,000 MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaigners meeting their MPs, asking for trade rules to be changed in order to reduce poverty around the world. The mass lobby built on the unprecedented public mobilisation around the G8 summit in July and lobbied over 320 MPs.

The Twyford contingent joined other Maidenhead Constituency campaigners who met Theresa May outside the Sovereign’s Gate at the Houses of Parliament and expressed their views on the importance of Fair Trade, rather than Free Trade. Paul  Minton said afterwards "It was most impressive to see how many constituencies were represented and how many MPs came out into the wet to see their constituents. The press may not have taken much notice, but I am sure the MPs did".

 

 

 

The Revd Simon Howard added "Even though her party believes in Free Trade I was impressed by the way Theresa listened to our concerns, she did at least recognise the need for transitional protection for developing countries".

The Twyford Advertiser quoted Theresa as saying "We now need to ensure that real progress is made at an international level and I will continue to press the Government to take firm action to tackle international development."

One of the Maidenhead campaigners said "I was humbled by the accessibility and the approachability of Theresa May. We can be in danger of feeling that Great Power is not concerned with listening to ordinary people but last week's experience made me feel at ease about doing this again."

 

 

Will you join us next time?