Skip to main content

I'LL FIGHT UNFAIR EU TRADE DEALS: GREEN PARTY MEP CANDIDATE VOW [Media release]

Norwich Councillor Rupert Read, prospective Green Party MEP for Eastern Region, has today pledged that, if elected to the EU Parliament next summer, he will support War On Want's 'Rough Trade' campaign to stop the European Union exploiting developing countries around the world. War On Want is fighting to end the EU's unfair and aggressive trade tactics that help perpetuate poverty for hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
Rupert Read strongly supports the Fair Trade movement and this Saturday is attending the Eye Green Fair which includes the sale of many Fair Trade products. The Fair takes place in Eye Town Hall on Saturday 8th November: http://www.greenfairs.org.uk/ [Cllr. Read will be there from 10 a.m. til about 3 p.m.]
Cllr. Read will also be speaking from the floor in favour of Fair Trade at a debate this Friday 7th November at the UEA in Norwich. UEA Conservatives are holding a debate titled 'Free Trade Vs Fair Trade, which will solve poverty in the third world?' This will be held in the Union House from 5.30 pm. Speaking from the platform against Fair Trade and for 'Free Trade' is Sir Teddy Taylor (former Conservative MP for Southend). Speaking for Fair Trade is Stephen Roberson (Fair Trade retailer, wholesaler, importer).

Councillor Read said:

"With developing countries refusing to sign up to the World Trade Organisation's neo-liberal agenda that would see their future unfairly sold off for the profit of European businesses, the EU is now bypassing multilateral trade talks and instead is bullying poor countries and regions into trading with it directly.

"The EU wants to open up new markets and services in the developing world with a privatisation agenda on poorer countries' public services, which would see money pouring out of these countries - money that could be better used by the developing countries for national healthcare, clean water provision or education.

"Green councillors in Eastern Region and up and down the country are committed to keeping public services out of the hands of private companies.

"If elected next June as a Green Party MEP for the East, I will continue to fight against unfair EU trade deals that threaten public services, and continue to support Fair Trade".

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Medialens under the lens, over Syria and Libya: Becoming the new Dave Sparts?

I have long been an active supporter of Medialens ( http://www.medialens.org/ ). Like many others, I have supported them with money, time, tips, and I have been proud to have done so. For they have done very important groundbreaking work over the years challenging the inanities and distortions of the 'mainstream' media. They have for example written important critiques of mainstream media coverage of dangerous climate change, of Iraq Body Count, of the corporate nature of most of our media, and much more besides. They have held the corporate media to account time and again. They ought to be saluted for all of that. It is therefore with a sense of deep regret (as well as of some foreboding) that I have finally to write to address the ways in which, lately, some of the wheels seem to be coming off their wagon. An early warning sign perhaps was their long-running spat with George Monbiot, over the Rwandan genocide and the terrible atr...
16 comments
Read more

'Scandal' over hacked climate-science emails at UEA: Don't believe the hype

The 'scandal' of the hacked emails from Environmental Science at UEA ( http://www.uea.ac.uk/mac/comm/media/press/2009/nov/homepagenews/CRU-update - this includes a direct rebuttal of the single seemingly most-damaging email, the 'trick' email), my University, has been gotten out of all proportion in some of the right-wing media, old and new. I have now read a good number of the 'worst' of the hacked emails. I also know a few of the protagonists personally, and for human-interest value the hacked emails certainly do offer some tidbits. But: When the dust settles, I predict that the climate-deniers will be left holding onto hardly anything, here. There is so far as I can tell at this (still-admittedly-early) stage no significant scientific scandal, and most importantly absolutely no reason to doubt any of the fundamentals of the science of manmade climate change here, just a few unpleasant or silly or (at worst) unwise and bad-practice emails. Scient...
17 comments
Read more