Wake Up to Trade Justice 

UK Global Week of Action for Trade Justice

How your involvement with Trade Justice made a difference

1. What impact did the UK Global Week of Action for Trade Justice activities have on UK politics and politicians of all parties?

All parties have included development in their general election manifestos and trade justice became an election issue for the first time in the UK. This is in large part due to the level of local campaigning around the UK over the past few years and the added focus provided by MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY this year. The campaigning pressure from the event also added impetus to World Poverty Day on Sunday 24 April, where the political parties, for the first time, outlined their plans for tackling world poverty if elected.

The ‘Stop Forced Liberalisation’ message was well presented to the three main political parties by delegations of local and southern campaigners on the Saturday morning after the event. They had the following responses: the Liberal Democrat President Simon Hughes stated that the trade justice message has been heard by Liberal Democrat MPs - even those who have a ‘free trade’ background;  Gareth Thomas, Labour Party,  thanked the Trade Justice Movement for its work as visible campaigning that not only helps the government to move on but also to persuade other countries to make progress;  and the Conservative spokesperson for International Development, Alan Duncan, felt that the speeches coming out of Westminster Abbey were anti-trade - but the delegation were able to emphasise that the movement is not anti-trade but wants managed trade that benefits poorer countries and the environment.

Chancellor Gordon Brown sent a message of congratulations to the Trade Justice Movement, commending your campaigning efforts and challenge we have posed to all political parties. On leaving the Labour party offices, campaigners had a surprise meeting with Tony Blair who appeared in the lobby.  The campaigners had the opportunity to take the message right to the top of government as the Prime Minister spent five minutes talking to the delegation about the vigil and the challenges of delivering trade reforms to benefit poorer countries when the UK hosts the G8 in Gleneagles in July.

Disagreements with the parties remain, but the message is getting to them louder and clearer than ever before. Politicians are having to respond to your pressure and they know that words are no substitute for action, for that is how they will be judged.

2. Did UK Global Week of Action for Trade Justice activities engage the public?

Wake Up to Trade Justice was the Trade Justice Movement's biggest event yet! More than 25,000 people came along - that's more than double the amount of people who came to the mass lobby of parliament in Westminster in June 2002.

All venues were filled to capacity with people eager to get in on the action ... and out of the cold! Those of you who came along spanned the spectrum from the most seasoned of campaigners, to those who had never campaigned before. And there was a big diversity in age groups too - from 4 and 5 year-olds to people in their 70s and 80s. There were also many more young people and students at this event than in previous years.

The full range of the Trade Justice Movement member organisations were involved, from the Women’s Institute running the fairtrade café to Friends of the Earth bringing along their ‘splat EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson’ game. The diversity of activity on the night, from a church service to comedy and a club night helped attract increased numbers. This shows our message is reaching more and more people and inspiring them to take action. It's a real tribute to those of you who are out there spreading the message and encouraging people to get involved.

Everyone who was present found the minute’s silence at midnight incredibly powerful and a remarkable achievement considering how many people were there. Very well done to the more than 10,000 of you who made it through to the morning for a rousing march around Westminster. We are also particularly grateful for your patience and good humour whilst waiting outside venues. The numbers far exceeded our expectations, so we did not have enough facilities for you all, but your behaviour caused the police to comment that it was a pleasure to work through the night on the event!

"It’s amazing how many people are here, we didn’t think there would be so many. I want to make trade fair for people, it’s a great experience — it has inspired me." Teleri Fieldon, 14 years old from Wrexham.

“I’ve been to many demos, but Wake Up to Trade Justice was by far the coolest.” Thom Yorke, Radiohead.

"It's been great seeing so many people with a common purpose. It’s a great feeling of solidarity. You’re not alone - your message, your card-signing, your little banners count and it does make a difference. Politicians do take notice eventually.” Dereck Prentis, 58, from St Mary the Angels parish in Worthing.

And the record breaking campaigning was not just in London. Aberdeen to Arundel, Bury St Edmunds to Belfast, and Jersey to Jarrow, tens of thousands of people across the UK took part in around 150 local events organised as part of the Global Week of Action. Towns and cities across the country hosted trade justice public debates and all night vigils, engaging the public and parliamentary candidates during the election. In Brighton, campaigners formed human trade barriers in the city centre and in Leicester, campaigners woke up Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt in their pyjamas. Many events focused on the Vote for Trade Justice, raising awareness and introducing new people to the campaign. The Vote for Trade Justice total passed 250,000 during the week, which gets us well on the way to 1 million by the end of the year.

3. Did we have good media coverage?

Wake Up to Trade Justice made a splash in the media. The story was widely covered by broadcast and web media across the UK and around the world.

Broadcast coverage was excellent.  In the run-up to the event, London and commercial music stations did a great job of publicising the vigil and club night, thanks to interviews with TV presenter June Sarpong and competitions to give away tickets to the club night.

There were reports from the vigil on all the TV news programmes on the friday night, including BBC, SkyNews and ITN and on TV and radio news bulletins throughout Saturday.  Celebrity attendees Thom Yorke and Ronan Keating were popular interviewees, along with campaigners from the many member organisations supporting the event. Thom Yorke spoke to BBC Radio 4’s The Today Programme with the morning march going on in the background as well as BBC Breakfast. Ronan Keating did interviews on friday with all the London and BBC radio stations and news crews.

There was less coverage in Saturday’s papers due to the timing of the event. Three Sunday papers carried brief reports and the vigil got covered in the Telegraph on Saturday and Monday.

A wide range of other publications are running the story, everything from the Methodist Recorder to the Socialist Worker, Student Times to the NME.

And globally the vigil achieved good coverage.  We know that it was in all the main Australian newspapers, for instance, and in the South African and Indian press. A supporter from Peru got in contact to tell us that he was delighted to hear coverage of the event on BBC World Service.

Events in other countries during Global Week of Action made the headlines around the world too. There was extensive coverage of events across the globe from India to Ghana and Zambia to Bangladesh and Zambia. Most European countries covered events in their country and the week even got coverage in Iran and Nepal.

4. What were the perceptions of Trade Justice Movement and the clarity of our message?

Wake Up to Trade Justice built on and extended the clarity and reach of the trade justice message.  The act of mobilisation enabled the movement to reach out to a more diverse and broader audience.  New supporters, in particular young people and those engaged by the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaign, participated in the event. Pre-event publicity and the fact that 25,000 people attended the event hit the London-based broadcast media - radio and TV - and with the celebrity element helped gain attention for the Trade Justice messaging. The broadcast media picked up on the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY link, describing the attendees, in the main, as anti-poverty activists. The very topline trade messaging was reflected in the media as a call for a change in the rules or conditions of trade that disadvantaged poor countries.  For instance the BBC news website said that the activists were calling for "an end to trade conditions which force developing countries to compete with cheaper foreign imports".

5. What about the global solidarity aspect of the week?

More than 10 million people in 80 countries took part in the Global Week of Action - all calling for ‘trade justice not free trade’ and for an end to forced liberalisation of vulnerable economies.   Protests took place on every continent in a massive display of global solidarity.  In Bolivia, as part of an intense week of activities against free trade, one hundred artists painted murals for trade justice, giving a permanent voice to the growing opposition to a free trade system which threatens to further impoverish one of the poorest countries in Latin America.  Angel Quino, a student in La Paz, explained: “Bolivia is like a cow with lots of milk, but all the people doing the milking are from outside the country. Free Trade just means that more of our milk will go towards feeding people in rich countries.”

In India, tens of thousand of people in over 20 states united in an unprecedented eruption of protest. People gathered in streets, in slums, in parks, under trees and tents, in temples and schools, and outside the offices of the World Bank and international companies with one clear message – for an immediate end to enforced liberalisation and free trade. Thousands of petitions and postcards were collected and delivered to the government and the World Bank. “The GWA has given us the opportunity to finally articulate the issues that are destroying our lives, to understand who is to blame and to fight together for change. It has been a real inspiration to know we are not alone and that millions around the world are in solidarity with us this week”, said Pallavi from a women’s organisation in Chennai.

In Ghana, hundreds of rice, cotton and poultry farmers from all over the country marched through the capital, Accra, voicing concerns that their industry is on the brink of collapse, due to local markets being flooded with cheap imports from Europe.

“The Global Week of Action is just the beginning. We have now built a platform for future struggles and campaigns. We are now ready and united for action – in 2005 and beyond.” Shaktiman Gosh, Calcutta, India.

“You are with us and we are with you and together we can face the challenge of free trade.” Jonas Borgas, MST (Landless Peoples’ Movement), Brazil.

Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, South Africa, summed up the mood of the week: “Through the mobilisation of huge numbers on every continent, we are declaring that no policy-maker, in politics or business, should doubt that trade justice is the growing demand of world opinion. My prayer is that our voices will be heard, and that justice will be done through the reform of the UN, IMF, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organisation. For too long, these organisations have worked for the rich. The time has come to say that the poor must stop paying the price.”

Reports from the events

» Westminster Abbey opening event
» Gordon Brown’s message to TJM campaigners
» Report back from the Wake Up delegations
» Supporter feedback on GWA  
» Photo Gallery from the Vigil
» Reports from Wake Up to Trade Justice