Wednesday morning and outside the Christian Aid office a group of people wearing a variety of yellow articles and clutching yellow balloons climb on to a coach to set off for London. We were heading for London to join thousands of others to lobby our Members of Parliament on the issue of Trade Justice. Distance and traffic congestion meant that we arrived too late for the initial rally but we joined the lobby queue with all the others wearing yellow. Christian Aid had organised things well with each region represented by a different colour and the most distant regions at the front of the queue. Gradually, as the rally ended people made their way to their places and the gaps diminished. Some had come from even further than Manchester, some represented other countries, some had dressed imaginatively. The best of these was undoubtedly the two men dressed as Arctic explorers, complete with ice picks and snow shoes. Despite the heat they looked realistically frosty and worked their slow way along, searching for justice as they went. It was fascinating to see the queue build up from the lobby entrance, along Millbank to Lambeth Bridge, across and all the way back along the other side of the river to Westminster Bridge. Christian Aid estimated that there were 13,000 people gathered for the moment when a Mexican wave travelled along the queue with the slogan 'Speak out for Trade Justice". Then came the wait to talk to the M.P's, many of whom came out to meet their constituents. The last information I had on the day was that we had spoken to 160 M.P's and counting!
As I knew that my M.P, Gerald Kauffman was not at the House that day I was able to go and explore the information sessions in the nearby Emmanuel Centre. There are many issues to be campaigning about, not least that of the commercialisation of basic necessities such as water. As a case study Christian Aid cited the Argentinian province of Tucuman where the public water was handed over to the French company Vivendi. The water supply then turned inexplicably brown, water rates doubled and poor people could no longer afford to pay their bills. After a non-payment campaign mounted by residents water services were eventually returned to public ownership. The General Agreement on Trade (GATS) rules apply to 'services' which can include many basic health and welfare services. The aim of GATS is to remove regulations which provide 'barriers to trade". This could result in many cases of removing policies which allow universal access to basic services. The Trade Justice Movement is campaigning for trade rules to put the interests of the poor before that of companies.
After a stimulating day it was time to get back on the coach for the long journey home. It was ironic after such a day to reach Oxford Services for a break and find ourselves pulling in alongside a stretch limo! Inside were a whole group of people on their way back from Royal Ascot- with champagne and elegant hats well in evidence!

Kay Coupland