Below is an example of a 750 word opinion article about the Global Week of Action that you could place in a magazine or in a newspaper.
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Trade justice campaigners of the world unite
An example from Ghana
From 10-16 April 2005, ten million trade justice campaigns from over 70 countries are taking action together. It will be one of the biggest global protests ever seen and the first big public event of 2005: the year that many are saying offers a unique chance to end extreme poverty once and for all. They are calling for trade justice not free trade.
As the world gets richer, poor people should share in the benefits. Instead millions of people are stuck in poverty, barely earning enough to survive. International trade is one of the main reasons why.
Take Ghana as an example. In March 2003 the Ghanaian government announced much needed tariff increases to protect its local rice and chicken farmers from unfair competition caused by cheap imports . Rice and poultry are essential to Ghana and these tariff increases (20% for poultry and 5% for rice) were introduced to boost rural incomes, encourage local production, increase revenue and reduce the import bill.
However, within 5 days of this announcement - under pressure from the International Monetary Fund, and without consulting Parliament - the Ghanaian government was forced to shelve their plans. As a result more and more small-scale family farmers are dropping out of the market and slipping back into subsistence farming. They are struggling to make a living and to send their children to school.
What is true for rice and chicken in Ghana is true for maize, milk, tomatoes, onions and countless other products in community after community in some of the world’s poorest countries. International trade rules rob poor countries of £1.3 billion a day – 14 times what they get in aid.
In the unfair competition between rich and poor the poor will never win.
The problem with free trade
Much of the media debate about trade has focused on the need to cut rich-countries’ subsidies, and offer increased access to Northern markets for goods from developing countries. Although important, these changes will never achieve the reductions in poverty we are hoping for without tackling the underlying problem - that rich countries are forcing so called ‘free’ trade policies on poor countries.
For years, rich countries, and the international institutions they control, such as the World Trade Organisation, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have openly used their influence to force poor countries to cut the support they gave to poor producers, to open their markets and to privatise essential services.
This has happened through a mix of economic liberalisation conditions attached to aid, loans and debt relief; through multilateral, regional and bilateral free trade agreements and through biased ‘advice’ and heavy-handed pressure.
The need for Trade Justice
It may sometimes be right to open a particular sector of the economy to competition, but developing country governments like Ghana must have the right to decide which sectors to open and when. T he trade justice campaign is arguing for realistic solutions to support economic growth and poverty reduction in poor countries. They are not advocating a return to the excessive protectionism of the 1930s but are saying that free trade is not the only alternative.
There is growing evidence that a pragmatic mixed economy approach reaps the greatest benefits for poor countries. For example, in Mauritius poverty reduction and economic growth has been achieved through carefully targeted intervention. In Mozambique the redevelopment of the sugar industry was only achieved by protecting it from volatile international sugar prices. In fact no economy has ever successfully developed without some degree of intervention.
Global Week of Action on Trade
Thousands of different events are planned for the Global Week of Action on Trade, from a night vigil in the UK, sending live chickens to Parliament in Ghana, mass rallies in India, unfair football matches in Kenya and Germany, a funeral procession in Brussels, lobbies in the Netherlands and the US, street theatre in Brazil and Bolivia, concerts, farmers tours, church services, postcard campaigns, votes for Trade Justice, a global fast and much more.
The idea is to have a global impact that causes the world leaders to think again about trade liberalisation. To achieve trade justice poor countries must have control over their own development. Governments, particularly rich-country governments, must ensure that poor countries are not forced to further liberalise their industrial, services or agricultural sectors. Only then will we begin to see the scale of lasting poverty reduction for which we all hope.
