Originally posted to sCNN – the smallChangeNewsNetwork
It’s a campaign and coalition being held up with the likes of the sufferage, abolitionist, and anti-apartheid movements that have already succeeded in much of the world. Today, it was Nelson Mandela in Trafalgar Square rallying a crowd of thousands to support fair trade, not free trade, just trade, not charity.
He was introduced to the cheering crowd as the President of the World and he joked about coming to speak here publicly after recently announcing his retirement from public life. In his short speech he suggested the willful and conscious continuation of the current state of extreme poverty for so many at the same time that some others live in extreme wealth is equivalent to a crime against humanity. That we have the means to end poverty and do not can never be acceptable.
The day was damp, gray, and chilly. A hard day to ignite crowds and a sedate crowd by my own American standards. And what are so many little people to do in the face of this story of about global trade and G8 meetings of national finance ministers, anyway?
The answer, the small change answer, was given by the guy who opened the day, I got there after he was introduced, so I don’t even know who he is. What he did was invite everyone to take out their mobile phones and text message Tony Blair. He called out the number and thousands of people punched it in and sent a message to “Make Poverty History.” Personally, I am reminded again that I need to understand better what some of these “free” and “fair” terms mean. I want to for myself what really makes sense for all of us, and within that, what I can actually do now.
The most exciting part of the day for me was riding my borrowed bicycle back home, negotiating a number of major roundabouts around the bridges that cross the Thames. My thanks to the bus driver and the truck driver… you guys know who you are… who were looking out for me! Maybe bicycling and looking out for each other, person-to-person, in everyday traffic is the best start.
Sir Bob Geldof, of rock and roll and Live Aid fame, introduced Nelson Mandela and made reference to centuries of gatherings in Trafalgar Square, of little people showing up, shouting out, linking arms and working for human rights. It seems that there is now the opportunity for a new kind of linking — of keyboards, blogs and people, signing on, posting it up, and blogrolling others. These small changes seem bound to make a world of difference.
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