The surprising power of people in parks

On Saturday 8th June, members from Justice Matters joined with 45,000 others at Hyde Park to demand that the G8 take action on the silent scandal of world hunger.

As film director and Olympics opening ceremony maestro pointed out, this was just the latest in a series of moments where people in parks stood up and demanded action on injustice - from female emancipation to workers rights, nuclear weapons to apartheid, Live Aid to Make Poverty History and Drop the Debt, the Big IF London, the people of Britain have a track record of coming together in parks to make history. This felt like one of those days - indeed, during the afternoon, we were informed that the G8 had agreed to provide a further £2.8bn in aid to ensure proper nutritious food is made available to children in the developing world. Exciting times...

Here are some photos from our preparation...

 

... and of the event itself...

 

Enough Food IF...

On Saturday 8 June David Cameron hosts a hunger summit. This is our big moment, our chance to make our voices heard and to push the G8 to take action on hunger. Together we will make sure David Cameron goes to Northern Ireland with our demands ringing in his ears. We want the G8 leaders to take action on aid, land,tax and transparency - the four big IFs needed to help end hunger.

Join us and make your voice heard at the Big IF in London's Hyde Park on Saturday 8 June.

http://bigiflondon-enoughfoodneutral.eventbrite.co.uk/

Shared from the Justice Matters Facebook Page

What will stop the next factory collapse?

We often talk about ethical consumerism and thinking about where our belongings come from at JM. As Nathalie reminded us as a recent gathering, the clothes may be inexpensive to you, but someone has paid for them.

News of the tragic collapse of the garment factory in Bangladesh has made this a much more public issue and a good moment to generate all important change in the system. I've just signed this petition in support of safer working conditions - you might be interested in doing the same. Do think about writing a personal message rather than just spamming them with the standard text.

Guilt-free clothing

We've all seen the horrific images of hundreds of innocent women burned or crushed to death in factories while making our clothes. In the next few days we can get companies to stop it happening again.

Big fashion brands source from hundreds of factories in Bangladesh. Two brands, including Calvin Klein, have signed a very strong building and fire safety code. Others, led by Wal-Mart, have been trying to wriggle out of signing by creating a weak alternative that was pure PR. But the latest disaster has triggered crisis meetings and massive pressure to sign the strong version that can save lives.

Negotiations end in days. H&M and GAP are most likely to flip first to support a strong agreement, and the best way to press them is to go after their CEOs. If one million of us appeal directly to them in a petition, Facebook pages, tweets, and ads, their friends and families will all hear about it. They'll know that their own and their companies' reputations are on the line. People are being forced to make *our* clothing in outrageously dangerous places - sign on to make them safe.

Last week's tragic collapse fits a pattern. In the last few years, fires and other disasters have claimed a thousand lives and left many others too injured to work. Bangladesh's government turns a blind eye to dismal conditions, allowing suppliers to cut costs to make clothes at a pace and price that global fashion giants expect. The big brands say they check up, but workers say the companies can't be trusted to do their own audits.

The companies are making up their minds right now. Let's call on the CEOs of H&M and GAP to lead the industry by signing the safety plan. Sign your name then share this email widely - once we reach 1 million we'll take out ads that they can't miss.

Read more
Collapse renews calls for safety agreement (Wall Street Journal)
15 May deadline set for Bangladesh safety plan (Industriall)
Western companies feel pressure as toll rises in Bangladesh (NBC News)
Avoiding the fire next time (The Economist)
Bangladeshi garment factory death toll rises as owner arrested on border (The Guardian)
Bangladesh factory safety under scrutiny after collapse (CBC)
Hazardous workplaces: Making the Bangladesh Garment Industry Safe (Report, Clean Clothes campaign)

Live Below the Line

As I wrote last week, from this Monday, a number of us will be participating in Live Below the Line - a campaign intended to raise and awareness and funds for the 1.4 billion people around the world who live below the extreme poverty line. For five days we will be joining many others across the UK and beyond in spending no more than £1 a day on food and drink. As you can imagine, this is quite a feat, especially with food prices going up and up and a great way to talk to friends and colleagues about food poverty and social justice.

Doing our shop for Live Below the Line 2011

There are different ways to undertake the challenge: you can walk into a supermarket with a fiver and buy everything for your week with just that one note, or you can work out how much you're going to use of different items and calculate the cost of individual portions to reach your £5 limit. Both methods have their merits, so feel free to do either. If you choose, you can get people to sponsor you to undertake the challenge, and/or you could give the extra money you would usually have spent on your food shop to a charity like Tearfund, The Salvation Army International Development or Christian Aid who support international development.

To help with your LTBL menu planning, you might like to have a look at A Girl Called Jack website (thanks, Dawn) which has lots of budget meal suggestions. Victoria and I are going to  give her carrot, cumin and kidney bean burgers a go - let us know if you try any of the others!

Are you taking part? Let us know if you are - maybe share a photo of your shopping list or till receipt, or any budget menu ideas that others could try, and remember to tell your friends why you're lunch looks a bit different this week - you never know, they might be inspired to find out more about social justice and even come along to Justice Matters with you!

As well as all that, we will having our usual first Wednesday in the month gathering this Weds (1 May), when we will be chatting more about the practicalities of getting involved with seeking social justice. We will be at the Bohemia from 8pm - you can decide whether to take an evening off LBTL and buy a drink or just stick tap water...

GB joins the G0.7

"We also deliver in this coming year on this nation’s long-standing commitment to the world’s poorest to spend 0.7 per cent of our national income on international development.

We should all take pride, as I do, in this historic achievement for our country."

Read the full text of the Chancellor's 2013 budget speech: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/

Shared from the Justice Matters Facebook Page

A busy weekend

What a busy weekend!

A number of us went to visit Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, on Saturday morning to discuss the IF campaign. We meet someone else in the waiting room who was also there to talk to her about the campaign, so we made friends and went in together - always networking and recruiting new members!

Theresa was familiar with much of what the campaign is trying to achieve and made positive noises about the issues we raised. Perhaps most pleasingly, when we raised the matter of the Government committing to allocate 0.7% of GDP to international aid, she smiled and told us that the first person into her surgery that morning had been complaining loudly about the amount of money Britain gives away in aid to developing nations, so it was encouraging to hear the five of us voicing our support for ongoing generosity.

On Monday morning Lizzie and Dave went to have a similar conversation with Mile Freer, MP for Finchley and Golders Green, which sounds to have been equally productive.

In addition to that, Elaine hosted the Sing for Water concert at St Bs in Saturday night, where several local choirs performed in support of the work of WaterAid. It was a great evening, with some memorable performances, including an appearance by our own Victoria and Mr Mike Dore. Thanks to all who came along and supported.

This week is a second Wednesday week, so if you have a 2to4 Group, you might want to meet up with them. If you don't, why not invite someone else from the community over for a drink and a natter?

Oh, and don't forget to hang on to plastic trays in preparation for a week Wednesday, when we'll be looking at food chains and grow your own.

That's all for now. Enjoy your week and see you soon!

IF, the UN and a mysterious request

Great to see lots of you at our gathering last Wednesday and special thanks to Natalie and Ian for the fascinating ideas and insights on Fairtrade and ethical consumerism.

At that session, Victoria highlighted the Enough Food... IF Campaign and challenged us to arrange a meeting with our local MPs to raise the campaign with them. Following that discussion, Victoria has identified some resources to help us with that challenge. These include a briefing note to share with your MP (and handy for reminding you what the campaign is about too!) and a longer Executive Summary. 

Victoria and I have set up an opportunity to meet with Theresa Villiers on Saturday 9th March for those living in Chipping Barnet, while Dave is speaking to Mike Freer's office for those in Finchley & Golders Green. We'd like people to come along with us and will be preparing for those meetings at our next pub session (this coming Weds, 8pm at The Catcher in the Rye, Finchley Central).

Two other things to flag: 

Firstly, that our esteemed member Ann-Marie is speaking at the UN in the coming days. We're very excited that our local Network has such a wide reach! If you're the praying type, do remember her this week.

Secondly, hang on to your plastic tubs (of the sort that fruit and veg sometimes come in) and bring them along to the next cafe session, where they'll be put to good use...

See you again soon!

Covered in bees

At our last gathering, Friends of the Earth came to tell us about their Bee Cause campaign.

Bee numbers in Britain have fallen dramatically in recent years. Three bumblebee species are already extinct.

Many factors are causing bees' decline - from habitat loss, to disease, to climate change. There is also growing evidence that some pesticides harm bees.

Bees are essential to our food supply, economy and quality of life:

• They pollinate 75% of our most vital crops and favourite foods. Without bees it would cost UK farmers £1.8 billion a year to pollinate our crops. That's more than it costs farmers to produce all the milk consumed in the UK every year.
• They're essential to our gardens, parks and countryside. Bees and other insects help pollinate over 75% of our plants, which in turn are vital to our insects, birds and animals.

Friends of the Earth are calling for the Government to adopt a National Bee Action Plan to ensure the way we farm our food, plan our towns and cities, and protect our wildlife, is better for bees. They are also calling each of us to plant bee-friendly flowers, buy local honey or go on a Bee Walk. You can help bees at home, out and about, or in schools.

In response, Justice Matters members spent time constructing bee hotels to make bees welcome in Barnet. Have a look at the photos, sign the petition and maybe make your own bee hotel!

Enough Food IF

The world produces enough food for everyone, but not everyone has enough food.

We can change this in 2013. IF we act together, we can make this year the beginning of the end for global hunger.



This year, many of the world’s most powerful leaders will meet in the UK. They must change the future for millions of people who live with the day to day struggle against hunger. But that will only happen IF we get together and make them act.

Justice Matters is proud to be involved in supporting this exciting new multi-agency campaign to bring an end to hunger around the world. Watch this space for opportunities to play your part. In the meantime, here's a video from the launch event...

Food, glorious food!

Food plays a huge role in our society. Eating together is a sign of hospitality and friendship, popular (and sometimes colourful) chefs are celebrated in our media, and programmes like Come Dine With Me and the Great British Bake Off are hugely popular.

Food is something that we love and often take for granted. We learnt this week that vast amounts of food is being wasted by consumers in the developed world. Meanwhile, we know that there are many people around the world - 870 million according to the World Food Programme - who go to bed hungry day in, day out. This inequality is truly shocking.

Over the coming few months, we will be looking at food and how it relates to justice. We will be exploring a range of topics - from hunger in the developing world to grow you own in the UK, from Fairtrade and unjust trade barriers, to Foodbanks and poverty closer to home.

Both the Old and New Testament of the Bible speak regularly about the issue of food justice, including guidelines to benefit those in need at harvest time, to strong words for those who seek to cheat the hungry out of their resources and those who embrace religion but lack a heart of compassion for those in need. We will be looking at some of these verses as we learn about the facts and seeing how faith and justice are inextricably linked.

Other charities are also focussing on the issue of food at this time, so we will be looking to get involved with Tearfund's new campaign, the Live Below the Line challenge and other opportunities to make a practical dent in this injustice.

It all begins this Wednesday at Coffee Republic from 7:30pm. We're kicking off the series with a guest speaker from Friends of the Earth and a practical activity to have a go at. As you can probably tell, we're really excited about this new theme and the gatherings we have planned, so we hope to see you at Coffee Republic or the Bohemia soon.

Oh, and to anyone fasting this week as part of the St Bs week of prayer and fasting, you might think its a little inconsiderate of us to be doing all this talk of food while you're trying to avoid it. But just consider this, as God says through the prophet Isaiah (58 v6-7):

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"

So there you go. See you on Wednesday!