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“Let no one be a stranger within these walls”
10
While the Bible does itself not give explicit guidance on the complexity of 21st century trade issues, biblical and faith-based values are helpful in evaluating how current trade systems measure against God’s ideal of justice for world trade.
Christian Aid has identified six values or principles to measure our progress towards a new world economy: democracy, diversity, equity, sustainability, safety and the priority of the poor.
Campaigning for trade justice
Having set out the biblical and faith foundations for a belief that trade rules and practices must be changed to give special help to the world’s poorest people, the question that must be addressed is, how can this change come about?
Christian Aid is committed to ‘engaging young and old, poor and rich in a global movement that changes the course of history’. Christian Aid believe that all people should be given the opportunity to make a difference and bring in God’s justice to the world. Campaigning is a response to injustice that engages people in a process that brings about change.
Campaigning as an identified activity is not referred to in the Bible, although it obviously took place. In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus uses the example of a woman who was clearly a ‘campaigner’ to encourage his disciples to be persistent in praying for justice. It is possible that the parable, usually known as the ‘persistent widow’ referred to a specific incident which may have been familiar to the disciples, or it could be that the woman is a representative figure. Interestingly, she is described as a widow, immediately identifying her as poor to Jesus’ audience, who would have been familiar with the special provisions in the Jewish law. Through the centuries, Christians have developed a long tradition of campaigning: against slavery and for prison reform in the 18th and 19th centuries, through the civil rights and anti-apartheid campaigns of the mid-20th century, to the campaigns for fairly traded products and the Jubilee 2000 campaign for debt cancellation. The Trade Justice Campaign stands in this tradition.
Those in the campaign are calling for ‘trade justice’, with rules weighted to benefit poor people. In particular, world leaders should:
> stop forcing poor countries to open their markets; and champion their right to manage their own economies
> regulate big business and their investments to ensure people and the environment come before profits
> stop rich countries promoting the interests of big business through trade interventions that harm the poor and the environment
>ensure trade policy is made in a fair, transparent and democratic way.
Christian campaigners have always been inspired by the biblical prophets, who were unafraid to point out how their society had fallen short of God’s ideals and call people to account.
‘The whole world is upside down because it puts
economics before the human and social needs of people.
We need to have different rules.’
Trinidad Sánchez, director of COMAL, Christian Aid partner organisation in Honduras
This article draws upon an extensive discussion of these issues on the Christian Aid website.
As individuals, we can help by supporting the Trade Justice campaign, writing to our MP and choosing to buy Fair Trade products whenever possible.