For everyone interested in international development, the run-up to the start of the new millennium was dominated by the campaigns of the Jubilee 2000 movement. The impact of numerous organisations working together for a common aim exceeded everyone's expectations, as the rich nations were persuaded to write off £45 billion of debt owed by the world's poorest countries.
That campaign is by no means over, as the promised relief represents only 15% of the total debt owed, and much of even this has yet to be delivered [1], [2].
Nevertheless much attention is shifting to the subject of international trade. The unfairness of the system of world trade towards the poorer countries has long been a concern of campaigners against poverty and injustice, but now the coalition approach so successfully used by Jubilee 2000 has been brought to bear in the form of the Trade Justice Movement.
The Trade Justice Movement is a coalition of over 60 organisations, including Tearfund, Christian Aid, CAFOD and Oxfam. In its own words: "Concerned with the harmful impact of current international trade rules on the poorest people in the world, on the environment and on democracy, the Trade Justice Movement calls for fundamental change of the unjust rules and institutions governing international trade, so that trade is made to work for all".
International trade is an incredibly complex issue, and it is very easy to get bogged down in a mass of statistics, acronyms, treaties, tariffs and so on. To give a flavour of some of the issues, here are some headlines gleaned from the TJM web site [3]:
But what has all this got to do with us as Christians? The bible has a great deal to say on the subject of trade. For example, the prophet Amos launches a veritable tirade against dishonest business practice:
"Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying, 'When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?'-- skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat." ().
Dewi Hughes, Tearfund's theological advisor, talks about the need to produce and to trade like this [4]:
"Work is not, as some believe, a consequence of the fall. Productive work is of the essence of what it means to be human []. The fall has made it generally much harder for humans to produce but produce we must []."
"Trading can be defined as the production and marketing of goods and services for the benefit of the producer and purchaser. It's a human activity that is an inevitable consequence of the creation mandate to multiply and to subdue the earth and manage it - so there is nothing wrong in creating wealth through trade. What concerns us as Christians are the principles that should control our trading activities - and what is done with the wealth that is produced by it."
The impact of reform of international trade cannot be overstated. I heard the director of Christian Aid state that the money released by debt relief would have taken his organisation, at current levels of income, from the time of Christ to the present day to raise. Fairer trade rules promise to have an even bigger impact. That is why donating to worthy causes like Tearfund (always close to my heart!) is not enough on its own.
Just as Christians were the driving force behind the founding of Jubilee 2000, so Christian organisations are playing a major role in the Trade Justice Movement. Please pray that the campaign retains a biblical basis and makes a huge impact in the lives of the poor.