Ed Miliband tells religious lobby to 'keep the pressure on' in fight against global hunger

Milliband address lobby

Labour leader Ed Miliband was one of 57 MPs who came to speak to yesterday's Religious lobby of parliament calling on the government to act on global hunger.

He said: "Politics is too important to be left to the politicians. Of course you need political leadership but you need people. All the major changes that have happened in political history only happened because people made them happen.

"Keep the pressure on us. Keep the pressure on David Cameron and on me and on Nick Clegg to do the right thing, to do our duty as politicians, to make good on our promises and do our duty to the world.

"We have a couple of months when we have got to have the most vigorous campaigning to put the pressure on the G8. Let's remember our moral obligation to the world - that's why you're here that's why I'm in politics.”

Ed Miliband added: “I want to pay tribute to CAFOD and the incredible work CAFOD does - they're not only a fantastic organisation, but an organisation that is literally changing and saving lives around the world. I warmly endorse the IF campaign. It's a very easy campaign to remember: it’s about aid, it's about tax and it’s about transparency. All of these things make an enormous difference to people in the world.”

The mass lobby of parliament by more than 250 nuns, monks, friars, priests and bishops from all over the UK aimed to raise with politicians the reasons why one in eight people go hungry, and challenge them to take action.

Organised byCAFOD, it came in the lead-up to the G8 summit which is held in the UK only once every eight years. This year, the Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign, of which CAFOD is a founder member, is bringing together over 200 development and faith-based organisations to call for action to tackle global hunger when G8 leaders meet in Northern Ireland this June.

Sister Gemma Simmonds of the Congregation of Jesus and lecturer in theology at Heythrop College was one of the speakers who addressed those gathered for the lobby. She said: “We have power – the power of the vote – and we can tell our MPs that we won’t vote for them if they don’t do something. One thing I really wanted to do today was make it clear to our political leaders that religious people are a force to be reckoned with. If you count the number of years and the experiences of all these people who’ve come together. They’ve been on the front line at home and abroad and have stared human misery in the face. They may look like old ladies, but they are tigresses. They have seen stuff that would make an ordinary person weak at the knees.”

Many members of the lobby have lived and worked in developing countries and seen hunger first hand. Sister Pat Robb of the Congregation of Jesus in London has worked with refugees throughout Africa, She said: “I believe that we are given gifts by God to share, not to use selfishly for ourselves. It’s an appalling scandal that there’s so much hunger in the world. I’ve worked as a nurse in refugee camps and have seen many children with malnutrition and adults dying from starvation.

“Big demonstrations, like the religious lobby, make the government acknowledge that people from all backgrounds have a voice, that they’re prepared to take part and that the world is watching. We hope and pray that our politicians will not just listen to us, but will act to defend the poorest and most vulnerable in our world. As long as one person is still hungry, our work is not over.”

And Sister Alphonsus Lagrue, a veteran CAFOD supporter, added her support to the fight against world hunger. She said: “I've come today because I'm concerned about hunger around the world. I have plenty to eat, but there are children dying because they don't. This makes me unhappy.  I want to tell David Cameron to please listen to what we're saying today. We're concerned and we care. Although they're far away, they are our brothers and sisters.”

CAFOD’s Chair of Trustees Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster John Arnold took up his placard as the lobby made its way to the Houses of Parliament and added his voice to the IF campaign. He said: “To see more than 200 sisters, brothers, priests, bishops and lay associates marching on parliament and meeting their MPs shows the strength of feeling in religious communities that the scandal of hunger must end.

“The problem is not a shortage of food. There are deep inequalities in the food system that mean hungry people don’t get the food they need to live. We can put that right, and we’re here to ensure politicians understand that and take that message up the chain so it reaches the G8 with force.”

The lobby members spoke to their constituency MPs in parliament, including Shadow Secretary of State for International Development Ivan Lewis, Sadiq Khan, Julian Huppert, Glenda Jackson, Jane Ellison, Lady Sylia Hermon, David Lammy, Stephen Timms, Andrew Selous and Nicola Blackwood.

Minister of State for Overseas Development Alan Duncan also joined the lobby to tell those gathered that their enthusiasm was needed to help win the argument on aid to developing countries.

He said: "We need you. Your enthusiasm is not only infectious but it helps us overcome the arguments of those who say we shouldn't spend money on aid for the world's most needy. We're working a lot cross-party to make the world a better place. This is the year when we hit 0.7%, and from now we will continue to hit 0.7%, and we’re going to make sure we target it so that those in most need are helped.”

On 8 June, a week before the G8 meeting in the UK, CAFOD will be part of a mass rally in London of thousands of supporters from the Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign urging world leaders to act on hunger. To join or for more information go to www.cafod.org.uk

CAFOD is a founder member of the Enough Food for Everyone IF coalition of more than 200 organisations that have joined together to campaign for action by the G8 on the issue of global hunger. The last time we worked together at this scale was for Make Poverty History. Now that the G8 group of world leaders are returning to the UK, we are demanding they take action on hunger.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has added his support to the campaign. He said: “Many decades ago, hundreds of thousands of British people joined the anti-Apartheid campaign. The same campaigners came together after Apartheid was dismantled to demand the cancellation of developing countries’ debt, and again in 2005 to demand poverty was consigned to history. They have also worked tirelessly for more than 40 years to realise the promise made by the wealthiest countries to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on aid.

“Looking at the hundred or so charities across Britain that have joined together for this campaign, I recognise veterans of the struggle against apartheid and debt - Oxfam, Christian Aid, CAFOD and many more - some inspired by their faith, some by their compassion - all driven by their steadfast refusal to accept the status quo of poverty and hunger in the 21st century. The Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign knows that - to tackle the root causes of hunger - aid alone will never be enough; we have to knock down the Jericho Walls of the global systems that are keeping people poor.”

 Campaigners say:

 Enough food for everyone...

IF governments keep their promises on aid, invest to stop children dying from malnutrition and help the poorest people feed themselves through investment in small farmers;
IF governments stop big companies dodging tax in poor countries, so that millions of people can free themselves from hunger;
IF we stop poor farmers being forced off their land, and use the available agricultural land to grow food for people, not biofuels for cars;
IF we force governments and investors to be honest and open about the deals they make in the poorest countries that stop people getting enough food.

See also: ICN 15 May 2013 Hundreds of Religious urge MPs to prioritise global hunger www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=2255

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