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November 1st, 2005

Trade justice, dubious slogans and armchair activism

On Wednesday (2nd November 2005) there is a Mass lobby of Parliament for trade justice in London. I think I am going to go, as the alternative activity I had planned, that of moving two small boxes from one house to another seems unimportant in comparison.

Having said that I am frustrated by the fact that Make Poverty History is now using the “Trade justice – not free trade” slogan which Christian Aid have been using for a while now. I’m a Christian Aid supporter, but I think that slogan is unhelpful. In fact at Greenbelt the Christian Aid guy in a trade justice debate admitted that the slogan is a gross simplification, but claimed that if you’re going to campaign you need simplified slogans*. I tend to disagree, as did most of the Greenbelt crowd who felt rather patronised I think.

As far as I understand it more free trade is exactly what is needed in many cases, the stopping of subsidies to Western farmers being one example. I’m no economist, but even I can see that a ‘one slogan fits all’ approach doesn’t fit here. I think the ‘no free trade’ slogan is just downright distracting and makes enemies of many who want to end poverty as much as Christian Aid / Trade Justice Movement supporters do.

But the ‘Trade justice’ part I’m fully in support of, and so plan to be there on Wednesday.

As a partial aside: For a brief while I was tempted to look into this tool for armchair activists:

“…the machine is able to receive incoming sms messages and speak them out loud through its powerful megaphones, thus allowing the armchair activist to shout out its rants and protests in the comfort of his sitting room.”

Armchair activism. Oh yes.

*I have the precise quote written down. It was very similar to this but I’d need to find the piece of paper to quote it word for word.

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3 Responses to “Trade justice, dubious slogans and armchair activism”


  1. Simo says:

    Dave, I agree the change of slogan seems a shame and I think we do need to think seriously about how we get our message across, however I would have to disagree with the idea that we need to stop subsidising our farmers, well no I don’t (I’m thinking this through as I write) the trouble is, we also live in a society where many of our farmers are not paid a fair fee for their product, even with the subsidies many of our farmers are still struggling, especially the smaller farmers, we need to be careful that we don’t turn things too far in the opposite direction and need to start putting fair trade stickers on our own milk!

    November 1st, 2005 at 11:27 am
  2. Dave says:

    Thanks Simo. As I say, I’m no economist. I’m informed by such articles as this one, and this blog which is well worth following if you’re interested in the subject.

    November 1st, 2005 at 11:42 am
  3. Alex Singleton says:

    Christian Aid’s Trade Policy Unit (CA-TPU) is merely upsetting people and creating enemies with its shrill campaigning. First David Cameron and then David Davis came out and attacked CA-TPU, then the Lib Dem’s Shadow Chancellor Vincent Cable was critical… and Prime Minister Tony Blair keeps saying that free trade is the answer. Martin Wolf in the Financial Times described CA-TPU’s position as “incoherent“.

    Paul Staines says: “In truth it seems to us as interested observers that there are two Christian Aids. There is the real Christian Aid that raises money for humanitarian causes, famine, flood and earthquakes, the Christian Aid of church and school fundraising rounds that we all know and which is widely supported. And there is the other Christian Aid found in its highly-politicised Trade Policy Unit (CA-TPU).”

    December 2nd, 2005 at 1:24 am