At 6am today (Tuesday 5 July) three activists from Brighton & Hove WDM climbed a crane in central Edinburgh to call for the end of Gordon Brown's attempts to co-opt the aims of the Make Poverty History campaign and twist them to the UK government's own advantage.
The three activists hung a huge banner demanding "No More Brownwash" to highlight the fact that the Blair government, and Gordon Brown in particular, are not the defenders of the poor and do not intend to meet a single demand made by the Make Poverty History coalition.
Just as corporations make hollow promises to 'greenwash' their environment-wrecking activities, so the Blair-Brown double act have attempted to convince the world they are making poverty history.
Leila Deen, one of the climbers said: "We feel it is our obligation, on behalf of the thousands of people who marched on Saturday, to decry the trick this government is trying to pull.
"The crumbs of debt relief and aid increases that will be announced on Friday remain tied to debilitating conditionality, which stands in direct contradiction to the aims of Make Poverty History."
The campaigners feel even less is being done to tackle the third aim of Make Poverty History - Trade Justice.
Kath Pasteur, another climber said: "Whilst Brown claims allegiance to MPH, he has chosen to ignore the most important demand of the cmapign. Rebalancing trade rules to favour the poor is the structural change needed to allow countries to develop on their own terms."
Paul Hutchings, the third climbing activist added: "The Labour government is hypocritical. It is still pushing the free trade agenda. Brown and Blair are leading the charge towards further liberalisation and privatisation of developing markets."
Pictures and more at:
http://www.wdmscotland.org.uk/campaigns/g8/index.htm
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