Global Big Noise update: 17.8 million people demand trade justice

As the world's eyes turned towards Hong Kong last December, the Big Noise petition was presented to trade ministers and members of trade delegations all over the world.

A global grand total of 17.8 million people had signed The Big Noise petition, including farmers, fisherfolk, city workers, community leaders and students. Petition presentations took place in Australia, Benin, Canada, England, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Senegal, Spain, USA, Wales, and Zambia.

On Monday 12 December Actor Gael Garcia Bernal, African singer Angelique Kidjo, and Chinese rockstar Anthony Wong handed the petition to Pascal Lamy, Director General of the WTO, asking him to do all he could to ensure the meeting changed the rules of world trade so that they work for the poor.

A week previously, actor Colin Firth was in Brussels to hand the petition to EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, saying:

"I feel honoured to act as a voice on behalf of the people who have signed the Big Noise Petition to Make Trade Fair. People have added their names from around the world, including farmers in Zambia, garment workers in Bangladesh, and concert-goers in Europe and America – it is a unifying plea. We offer this as a counter to the corporate voices of opportunism. This is a mandate to Mr Mandelson and all WTO delegates to make trade rules work for the poor."

Commissioner Mandelson replied: "Keep raising your voices, keep pushing us forward, keep showing us you are impatient and not tolerant of any outcome [in Hong Kong] that is not satisfactory for the developing world."

Dobson Tembo, a farmer from Zambia added: "World leaders are not listening. Our livelihood has always been hard, but we have never felt this lack of hope. The Big Noise is our voice demanding change and that's why I signed. It's time to give poor farmers a chance."

Of the 17.8 million people who have joined the Big Noise so far, over 80% come from developing countries, and many of them are farmers.