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Tearfund speakers IF webinar
- 1. TEARFUND SPEAKERS: INSPIRING THE CHURCH TO ACT AND PRAY
- 3. WHAT IS…
- 5. Why is part of IF?
- 6. ENOUGH FOOD FOR EVERYONE IF… • The UK gives the aid we’ve promised to and find new ways of getting money to help poor communities cope with the impacts of climate change. » UK GOVT BUDGET DAY – Wed 20th March » Tell your MP you care (Feb 15th – March 15th) » Irish ‘High Level Event on Hunger, Nutrition and Climate Justice – April 15/16, Dublin
- 7. ENOUGH FOOD FOR EVERYONE IF… • We do what we can to make sure companies pay the taxes they should in developing countries so that developing country governments have the resources they need to tackle hunger directly. And there’s transparency so that communities in those countries can hold governments to account for how they spend their resources.
- 8. ENOUGH FOOD FOR EVERYONE IF… • We end the unfair practice of land grabs and make sure we’re growing food for people rather than fuel. » G8 meet in Enniskillen, N.I. 17th – 18th June » World’s biggest picnic? Sat 8th June (tbc) » Belfast event, 15th June
- 10. Any Questions?
Editor's Notes
- My name’s Laura and I am part of Tearfund’s Campaigns Team. I’m going to talk you through the Enough Food For Everyone IF… campaign. Where it came from, what it’s calling for and why it matters that churches take their place at the heart of it.
- The G8 is for the governments of eight of the world's largest economies - France , Germany , Italy , Japan , the United Kingdom , and the United States , Canada and Russia . The last time the UK hosted the G8 was 2005. We used that opportunity to campaign for justice for poor communities by creating ‘Make Poverty History’. Millions of people wore white bands, 444,000 people emailed the Prime Minister about poverty and 225,000 took to the streets of Edinburgh for the Make Poverty History march and rally. And Bob Geldof ran a massive concert in Hyde Park too. The campaign ensured that global poverty was placed higher on the national and global agenda than ever before. It achieved: The 2005 G8 summit signalled an extra $48 billion a year by 2010, which included between $15 and $20 billion of new commitments. G8 countries recognised that developing countries have the right to decide, plan and sequence their economic policies to fit with their own development strategies. $1billion per year of debt was dropped for 18 of the most highly indebted poor countries. All UK political parties committed to maintain the aid target of spending 0.7% of national income on aid. The government also committed to no longer making UK bilateral aid conditional on recipient governments making specific economic policy decisions. The church was front and centre in Make Poverty History. In fact one of the legacies of MPH is that the church is increasingly being recognised as a voice for justice in Britain today. My hope and prayer for you as Tearfund Speakers is that you will want to pick up the baton and inspire the church to act, pray and campaign – As the body of Christ it makes perfect sense that we should be visible and vocal in this campaign as a witness to our great and loving God, and in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in poverty today around the world. two figures reported by UNICEF and the WHO, plus the one cited by IF: Child mortality: 1990, 12 million; 2011, less than 7 million. But 7 million is 7 million too many, and of them 2 million die of malnutrition. The same is true of the ‘Enough Food for Everyone IF’ campaign.
- Enough Food for Everyone IF, or the IF campaign for short, is taking the opportunity of the G8 meeting in the UK, this time in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, to highlight the injustice that there’s enough food for everyone in the world today and yet 1 in 8 people go to bed hungry each night. Quite simply, it needn’t be this way and we’ll be using all sorts of opportunities this year to call on those with the power to right this wrong to do just that. We’ll also be inviting people to think about small changes they can make in their own lives to help us all live fairly and sustainably. And we’ll be soaking the whole thing in prayer and looking to see God at work in this campaign.
- Who is the IF campaign? Over 100 groups are already part of the campaign. Here are just a few. There are lots of faith groups as well as some of the largest charities in the UK. There’s something very powerful about campaigning on an issue with people different from us. That’s why I’ve included Islamic Relief and the Humanist Association on this sample. It’d very compelling for those in power to hear a variety of different people speaking out on the same issue – it’s the value in being ‘not the usual suspects’. And I also believe it allows the church to speak prophetically about what we believe and brings all kinds of people into contact with Christianity in a profoundly positive way that they might not otherwise. Many of us may well have links to organisations and groups that are involved in feeding hungry people. This is clearly important work. But it’s also a tragedy that such a thing should be necessary. Your church or others in your area may well be involved in food bank-type programmes locally. The IF campaign is trying to tackle some of the root causes of hunger by asking why people are hungry in the first place, There are 4 key areas we need to see change in this year. They don’t cover absolutely everything that causes hunger. But they are the things we have opportunity to push for progress on in 2013.
- Tearfund’s part of IF because we know that one of the major drivers of hunger is climate change. We can see opportunities this year, through the IF campaign, to improve the prospects of poor farmers struggling to cope with the changes to weather patterns they are experiencing. People like Ruth Show http://tearfund.org/hunger animation (2.39 minutes) Silas’ story Fifty-two-year-old Silas Ndayisaba lives in Rukiri village in the east of Rwanda. He has been a farmer since he was 16. He’s seen a lot of change in that time. ‘When the weather is good, I have produce to sell. But this year the harvest wasn’t good because of the flash floods,’ he says. ‘The weather is less predictable and the drought means that we have a lot less food.‘Things have changed in the last 20 years. Thirty years ago, we had good harvests and could predict the weather patterns. In those days, beans cost 40 RWF (4p) but now they cost 450 RWF (47p).’ This represents a more than tenfold increase in a country where the average income is about £320 per year. ‘Twenty years ago, we could plan,’ says Silas. ‘Today we can’t. Prices have gone up. I buy less and I only eat twice a day’ That increase Silas talks about, from 4p to 47p doesn’t sound like much to us but it’s the equivalent of paying £13.20 for a McDonalds cheeseburger, £14.85 for a loaf of bread, or £847 on a week’s shopping for a family of four (multiplied from Defra figs reported in the Telegraph, Sept 2012). ‘ Hope on the Horizon’ pdf (make avaiable on Speakers Corner?) BECAUSE GOD CALLS US TO: WHY CAMPAIGN WE CAMPAIGN… … Because we are Christians. Because we seek after Jesus and are called to live differently. To show a glimpse of God’s kingdom in a hurting and broken world. … Because the bible’s full of it. In Isaiah we are exhorted to learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Proverbs calls us to Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute and defend the rights of the poor and needy . TEARFUND CAMPAIGNS…. … Because we work for transformation. Because we see churches doing amazing things in their communities bringing real, lasting change. And because we see that there is still so much more to be done. And some problems are bigger than communities. Because when we come together there is strength in numbers and power in persistence. Because we can’t deliver Tearfund’s vision without it. … Because the world isn’t fair or just . Yet. The coming of the kingdom of God is just that, still coming. Because powerful people bear a burden of responsibility that we can help them with. And wealth makes people sick and power can make them blind. … Because God delights in Justice . He loves it. Psalm 9 says that He is known by his acts of justice. We are the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27) and if we are to reflect God to the world around us we should be known for our acts of justice too. For lifting our eyes beyond our immediate concerns, and perhaps forgoing some of our home comforts, and daring to believe that big changes are possible. Because, to still a strap line from another organisation, ‘we believe in life before dearth’ don’t we? We believe that God invites us to partner with him in His great and good and loving work. We campaign because it’s part of our faith. We campaign in obedience to God. And because Justice brings joy to the righteous (proverbs 21:15). All of which is important and worthwhile and food for thought. Thankfully, it also works! CAMPAIGNING BIBLE VERSES Isaiah 1:17 learn to do right! Seek justice , encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Proverbs 31:8 Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Proverbs 31:9 Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. Ezekiel 3:18 When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their lives, those wicked people will die for their sins, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. Deuteronomy 16:20 Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you. Deuteronomy 24:17 Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice , or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. Deuteronomy 27:19 “Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.” Then all the people shall say, “Amen!” Psalm 9:16 The LORD is known by his acts of justice ; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. Psalm 11:7 For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice ; the upright will see his face. Psalm 33:5 The LORD loves righteousness and justice ; the earth is full of his unfailing love. Psalm 112:5 Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice . Proverbs 8:20 I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice , Isaiah 1:17 learn to do right! Seek justice , encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 28:17 I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line Jeremiah 9:24 but let those who boast boast about this: that they understand and know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD. Amos 5:24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! Luke 18 The Parable of the Persistent Widow 1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
- Simply doing what we’ve promised to. But recognising that doing that isn’t as straightforward as perhaps it might be in difficult economic times. This is the ‘friendly’ ask if you like. A chance to make the govt feel warm and fuzzy for a minute so that they are receptive to all the other things. And the climate change ask is making sure that we don’t try and help communities cope with the impacts of cliamte change with monies that are already earmarked for schools or hospitals. This money needs to come from somewhere new and a shipping levy looks like a good place to start. It might not be very exciting but it really could make a difference to the tune of
- 3 out of 4 of us already think we should do more to get companies to pay proper taxes. In the words of Matthew’s gospel: ‘render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s’ (Matthew 22:21) East Timor/Timor Leste South-East Asia Offshore oil and gas deposits since 2004 have been extracted by Australian firms and were paying the minimum of tax. The govt of Timor Leste couldn’t audit the accounts to check that the Australian firms were making deductions. In 2010 they managed to secure a deal to get ‘forensic auditors’ in. That year they recovered US$362million (4x Timor Leste’s health budget). Further exploration suggests Timor Leste may net a further US$3billion. Transparency would mean not only could communities hold govt to account for how they spend resources, it could also help them be held to account for ‘revenues foregone’. This is the ‘deal sweeteners’ that companies are looking for – governments often offer huge concessions to big foreign businesses with little or no information made available publicly. It’s estimated that East Africa loses up to US$2.8 billion a year this way.
- Every 6 days an area the size of London is annexed by speculators. Between 2001-2010 203 million hectares of land around the world have been under consideration or negotiation in large-scale land acquisition. – that’s about 8x size of the UK. If that much land was farmed it’d produce enough food to feed a billion people (that’s more than go to bed hungry each night). Particularly an issue for women – most of the world’s small-scale farmers are women who are vulnerable to ‘legal title’ issues. Most of the world feeds itself through small-scale agriculture. Women are more likely to go hungry. Growing Biofuels pushes up food prices and pushes those trying to grow food to eat onto land that is not good for farming – or requires them to deforest in order to be able to farm.