The Match Factory | May - July 2009

There are loads of exciting things to get involved with in the next few months. Last year we gave ideas for International Children’s Day and World Environment Day amongst others in the summaries of March to May and June to August but here are some ideas for the rest of dates happening over the summer months.

May
3 | World Press Freedom Day

Many readers of theRubicon have the pleasure of living in countries that do not place heavy restrictions on media reporting. One of my greatest pleasures is coffee and The Guardian on a Saturday morning in the pages of which I can enjoy thoroughly cynical and critical accounts of anyone and everyone in government! We can often take for granted the usefulness of the press in holding people to account and, some at least, attempting to portray truth. There are an array of countries where journalists have no such liberty and World Press Freedom Day is chance to recognise the dire results of this.

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) portrays some of these stories;

“Moussa Kaka, the director of the private radio station Saraouniya Radio talks about his coverage of the Niger Justice Movement that led to a one-year imprisonment. Mohammad Al-Al Abdallah, a 26-year old Syrian blogger, reveals his family hardships that have arisen from the fight for press freedom. In Yemen, Abdel Karim Al-Khaiwani, talks about spending a year behind bars for his reportage on high-level corruption, nepotism, and human rights abuses. Colombian journalist Claudia Julieta Duque discusses the long battle she has faced for her investigative reporting. Barry Bearak of The New York Times describes his arrest, detention and expulsion from Zimbabwe for trying to report from the country during the last elections.”

Feature it: Take 5 minutes in your church service to look at one of the stories WAN features. Pray that the media everywhere will be a tool for truth and accountability.

Do it: We also have a role in ensuring that we hold the media to account. Newspapers can often portray minority groups unfavorably or allow heavily opinionated pieces that are not truthful to dominate their pages. We have a role to play in this, for example by getting the ‘other side’ heard in the Letters to the Editor. In the lead up to the May, the Match Factory will publish a guide to influencing you local media for social justice. Why not use World Press Freedom Day as a prompt to get to grips with it.

15 | International Day of Families
The theme for 2009’s International Day of Families is “Mothers and families: Challenges in a changing world”. This is a pertinent theme considering the recent realisation of the huge burden’s placed on the world’s mothers. In developing nations increasingly women are not only raising families, but growing food, collecting water and fetching fuel. As climate change hits, making natural resources scarcer, mothers around the world are facing challenges like never before.

Consider this quote from Voré Gana Seck, executive director of Green Senegal;

“Climate change affects women because they are usually the main food producers of crops like rice, millet, vegetables. Because of no rain, climate change affects them. And girls have to drop out of school because they need to start working for their families. ”

2009 is an all important year for climate change and International Day of Families is another hook to talk about climate injustice.

Read it: Why are mothers being impacted so heavily by climate change? Oxfam explains.

Screen it: Oxfam have also put together 4 short videos of women who are fighting climate change for their families and their communities. It is called Sisters on the Planet, it is inspiring and you can order a free DVD here.

Host it: Hold a Pot Luck Families Lunch at your church/ group and try and stir conversation about what challenges families are facing in your community and across the world. Think about what you can do to help with these challenges.

19-25 | National Vegetarian Week

Over 100 years ago Bramwell Booth, well know leader of the Salvation Army, outlined his reasons for vegetarianism.

Some of his reasoning feels a little crackers (”A flesh diet favours sleepiness”) but a lot of it stands good. In light of current climate chaos there is no better time to cut meat out of your meals. A 2006 UN report said the meat industry was

“one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, from local to global.”

Do it: Why not take a chance on cutting down your meat consumption? Replace meat with veggies and lentils once or twice a week and see how it goes.

Read it: Browse Go Veg and order your free vegetarian starter kit!
Host it: Have a veggie soup lunch with your local group or church. Float Bramwell Booth’s article and consider together the current implications of eating meat.

June

12 | World Day Against Child Labour

An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked across the world each year according to international charity, Stop the Traffik. Save the Children estimate that 8 million more are in the worst forms of labour in their local towns. It seems that once a month an expose reveals another High Street brand using the delicate fingers of children to sew sequins. It is a complicated and devastating problem, one that won’t be solved by us boycotting the latest brand we hear about but that absolutely requires us to address our consumerism that keeps up demand.

Read it: One World’s excellent guide to Child Labour.
Pray it: Corporately pray the Franciscan International Prayer to End Child Trafficking.
Watch it: Stop the Traffik’s latest video.
Join it: Campaigning works. In the last month Cadburys and March have listened to the global campaign for Fair Trade - insurance against child labour- and have responded. Join Stop the Traffik and use your voice to make sure the world’s vulnerable children are protected from bonded labour.

13-21 | Bike Week

Following the clearly social justice themed World Day against Child Labour, Bike Week seems slightly irrelevant at best. Yet, it remains on the Social Action Calender because individual action matters. We must be aware of poverty, injustice and human rights violations but we must also be aware of the the impact our action can have on these things. To be overly simplistic; pedal power = no carbon emissions = less climate change = less devastating impact on the earth and developing communities. Plus, getting out of your metal box on four wheels provides greater connection with your local surroundings and neighbours, of that I am utterly convinced!

Do it: Why not?!
Change it: If one of your answers to the above question was about road safety then why not campaign to see safer routes for cyclists? Do a quick google for “Clycling campaign” and the name of your town and the odds are there will be one for you to join.

July
7 | International Day of Co-operatives

Cooperatives have long been a serious and legitimate answer to exclusive and unjust economic and political systems. Cooperatives form the basis of the Fair Trade movement; communities of farmers working together has been the sole way developing nation workers can get a fair and honest deal. Good ooperatives give us quite a bit to reflect on; How democratic are our own practices, how inclusive is our language and how invested and invested in are our own community members?

Buy it: Might this be a day where you are once again prompted to make sure your coffee machines and fruit are Fair Trade?
Do it: Many countries offer a supermarket based on a business model of a cooperative. Find your local one and commit to doing your groceries with them.

8-10 | G8 Summit, Italy

Leaders of the wealthiest nations will meet in Sardina at the beginning of July for their annual meeting. Like the G20 summit in April the two big items on the agenda will be the economy and the environment. If it is anything like April’s meeting they will not be able to marry the two. This year world leaders have an opportunity to reform economic structures in order to dramatically derail climate chaos, we must hope that they will seize it.

Pray it: Use this page to pray by name for all the participants of the G20. Pray that they might have vision to see what is needed, that they will have courage to follow it through and a sense of justice for the world’s poor in all of their decision making.
Write it: Write a letter or email to your Prime Minster or President! Take half an hour to write a personal letter asking that they reflect the needs of developing nations throughout the summit. Personal letters can be very powerful if they reflect a larger public mandate, which in this case is a global call for justice.

If you have any more dates or ideas for the next few months please do comment.

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