Just' Cause: Christian groups plan May Day in the City

A group of Christian organisations will be campaigning for global economic justice in the City of London today. In an initiative called 'Just Share', it aims to distribute 'Just Cross' buns to the City workers during May Day lunchtime, to signify they are 'just cross' with the increasing inequality in the world. City workers will also be offered 'Just Share' certificates and encouraged to buy fairly traded goods. On the way home they will be invited to sample a glass of 'Just Fine Wine', fairly traded from Chile and South Africa. The intention of the campaigners is to create a positive atmosphere for the necessary debate about the urgent need to restructure the present processes of globalisation to create a more just and equal world. The five mini-slogans for 'Just Share' are control capital, cancel the debt, transform the WTO, invest ethically and protect the earth. Rev Dr Leslie Griffiths said: "The debate on globalisation is vital for the present and the future, Christians need to be at the heart of it". Rt Rev John Gladwin, Bishop of Guildford, who is chairing the May Day Rally, said: "There is a moral and spiritual dimension to the processes of globalisation and we in the churches are determined to keep that dimension on the agenda". Director of Catholic aid agency CAFOD, Julian Filochowski, commented: "Globalisation is not like the weather, beyond our control. It has been created by people and it must be changed by people - politicians, businesses and voters, in the North and South. Globalisation must be reformed to serve the people, especially those in the world's poorest communities". On 1 May Christian protesters will stand alongside those from trade unions and other organisations who seek to bring their concerns about international justice before the wider community on the traditional inte'national workers' day. The 'Just Share' coalition includes: Baptist Union of Great Britain, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Christian Socialist Movement, Church Action on Poverty, CIIR, Greenbelt, Manna Society, London Institute of Contemporary Christianity, Advisor for Social Justice in the Diocese of London, Pax Christi, Society of Friends, SPEAK, Tearfund and the United Reformed Church (Church in Society).