WDM at the G8 Summit

Tuesday, 05 July 2005
WDM Brighton scale new heights

Activists from the World Development Movement Brighton Group dramatically climbed a 150ft crane towering over Edinburgh Waverley station at first light this morning to call for an end to the UK Government's attempt to co-opt the aims of the Make Poverty History (MPH) campaign and twist them to their own advantage.

Update at 6:45pm: Crane activists arrested after 12 hours

Listen to Kath Pasteur, one of the climbers (MP3)
Read official WDM press release

The activists from Brighton hung a huge banner from the crane demanding "no more Brownwash" - just as corporations make hollow promises to greenwash their damaging work in the world, so the Blair/Brown double act have managed to convince the nation they are aligned with the aims of MPH, when in fact they are not the defenders of the poor and do not intend to meet a single demand made by the MPH coalition.

"We feel it 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 conditions, which stand in direct contradiction of MPH," said Leila Deen, one of the climbers.

The campaigners feel even less is being done to tackle the third aim of MPH: Trade Justice.

"Whilst Brown claims allegiance to MPH, he has chosen to ignore the most important demand of the campaign; rebalancing trade rules to favour the poor is the structural change needed to allow countries to develop on their own terms," said Kath Pasteur, another climbing activist.

"The Labour Government is hypocritical. It is still pushing the Free Trade agenda. Brown and Blair are leading the charge toward further liberalisation and privatisation of developing country markets," said Paul Hutchings, the third climber.

Contact on the crane now: Paul Hutchings 077 6881 5472.