Participation in Global Week of Action Exceeds Expectations

Posted: 19 April 2005

Hundreds of events around the US – and the world – highlight unfair trade rules.

More than 10 million people in 80 countries took part in the Global Week of Action last week. Oxfam America alone, which led organizing efforts in the United States, supported more than 250 events in 43 states.

The events, organized to call attention to unfair trade practices, ran the gamut during the week of April 10-16.

“The success of the Global Week of Action exceeded our expectations,” said Liz Carty, National Outreach Coordinator for Oxfam America. “2005 is a critical year to make trade fair, and people in this country and all over the world are using their power to push for fairer trade rules.”

In India, tens of thousands of people protested, fasted and took part in festivals to highlight policies that produce increased poverty and inequality. In Brazil, a theater group danced, sang and acted out the effects of bad trade rules. In the United Kingdom, more than 25,000 people participated in an all-night vigil to call for trade justice.

Here in the US, Oxfam America led tours throughout the Midwest where agriculture experts and farmers from West and Central Africa exchanged stories and ideas for reform with American family farmers. Oxfam also gathered leaders for human rights, the environment, international development and faith movements in Washington, DC to call for changes in US agricultural policies.

Mary Robinson, Executive Director of Ethical Globalization Initiative, former President of Ireland, and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, shared insights she gathered when visiting Mali through an Oxfam-sponsored trip.

"We need to frame this discussion in terms of justice and human rights,” Robinson said. “I saw that directly in Mali in December. Poor women in cotton fields were not able to send their children to school or afford proper healthcare. The consequences of subsidies are very real."

Oxfam’s events during the Global Week of Action represented just a handful of those organized around the country. College students, faith-based groups, and other non governmental organizations, held forums, film shows, fashion shows, and Fair Trade sales from Boston to Chicago to Los Angeles. Many activists called their elected officials to talk about the coffee crisis, agriculture subsidies, and defeating the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

“This week was important because it shows the world that ordinary people in this country not only believe in trade justice, but are willing to take action too,” Carty said.