Archived press release

Radiohead to support mass lobby for justice in world trade

30 May 2002

Largest ever lobby of parliament on global trade, 19 June 2002

Rock band Radiohead will lend their support as more than 10,000 people from across the UK take part in the largest ever mass lobby of parliament on global trade.

On 19 June 2002, people from many of the UK's 659 parliamentary constituencies will converge on Westminster to meet their MPs and press for greater justice in global trade. The Lobby will send a clear message that British voters want the rules on international trade rewritten to favour the world's poorest communities and safeguard the environment.

The lobby is organised by the Trade Justice Movement (TJM), a new grouping of charities, aid agencies and campaigning groups calling for fundamental changes in the rules and institutions governing international trade.

"People in Britain care passionately about the plight of the world's poorest people and about the environment, and they will demonstrate this to their MPs on 19 June," says Charles Secrett of Friends of the Earth, one of the agencies behind the TJM. "This event will not only show politicians that they have a clear mandate from voters in the UK to act to change international trade rules, but it may also become a significant landmark in the country's political history."

The focal point of the lobby will take place at 15.30, when a 'Mexican Wave' of noise will pass through the line of people waiting to meet their MPs. This will signal the beginning of the lobby, which will see MPs being taken in rickshaws to meet their constituents. The lobby queue is expected to stretch down Millbank, over Lambeth Bridge and along the embankment on the South side of the river Thames.

Notes

Early indications suggest that more than 10,000 people will attend.

The Trade Justice Movement members include: Action Aid, ACTSA, ADRA-UK, African Initiatives, Babymilk Action, British Association of Fairtrade Shops, Banana Link, CAFOD, Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Care International UK, Carlisle One World Centre, Christian Aid, Consumers International, Credo Arts Centre, Devon Trade Justice Network, The Fairtrade Foundation, Find Your Feet, Friends of the Earth, Intermediate Technology Development Group, International Federation for Alternative Trade, Methodist Relief and Development Fund, National Federation of Women's Institutes, Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, Oxfam, Peace Child International, People & Planet, Peru Support Group, Reading International Solidarity Centre, Re-generation, Save the Children, SCIAF, SPEAK, Tearfund, Tools for Self Reliance, Traidcraft, Trinity and All Saints Chaplaincy, United Reformed Church, VSO, War on Want, WOMANKIND, Women's Environmental Network, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and the World Development Movement.

Format of the day will be as follows:
13:30 Rallies at Methodist Central Hall and the Emmanuel Centre, Marsham Street, Westminster, with Vandana Shiva, Martin Khor, speakers from developing countries, and directors of aid and environment agencies
14:30 Participants form giant queue to meet their MPs
15:30 'Mass Moment' photo opportunity - Mexican wave of noise stretching from the House of Commons St Stephen's Entrance along both sides of the River Thames
15:30Lobbying continues (until 20.30). Debates, music and events at Methodist Central Hall and the Emmanuel Centre, Marsham Street, Westminster

www.tradejusticemovement.org.uk
Suite 204, 16 Baldwin's Gardens, London EC1N 7RJ

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust