Coldplay Creates Big Noise Over Unfair Trade
27 July, 2005
British rock group Coldplay and Oxfam America are working together to promote awareness of trade rules that keep millions of farmers in poverty.
Coldplay is championing the Make Trade Fair campaign during their "Twisted Logic" tour in August and September. The concerts feature music from their long-awaited third release—"X&Y"—and a call to sign the Big Noise petition. This petition calls on world leaders to change trade rules that keep millions of farmers across the world in poverty.Coldplay’s 36-date US tour, which began August 4th in Hartford, Connecticut, marks a new level of advocacy for both Coldplay and Oxfam America. In 2003, Oxfam gathered 10,000 Big Noise signatures during Coldplay’s 14-date US tour. This year, Oxfam hopes to get 50,000 signatures.
Before each concert, Coldplay shows a brief video on the suffering caused by bad trade policies and the potential for trade reform to lift millions out of poverty. The video calls on concert-goers to sign the Big Noise petition by using their cell phones to send a text message. Sun Microsystems is providing the technology and support for thousands of anticipated text messages. Oxfam volunteers will also collect petition signatures by hand.
The Big Noise petition has been signed by 7.7 million people globally. Oxfam will deliver the Big Noise to world trade ministers this December at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong.
Coldplay front man Chris Martin has seen firsthand the crippling effects of bad trade rules on small farmers after traveling to both Ghana and Haiti with Oxfam.
"How on earth could anybody stand in a field with these people and say that it's the right thing to do to dump their excess produce cheaply on a third world country? It's beyond me. But the truth is, the people responsible haven't talked to the farmers in the areas affected."
In July, Coldplay teamed up with prodigious A-list music stars at London’s Live 8 concert to insist that politicians take steps to end extreme global poverty. And following the Live 8 performance, Coldplay began a series of European shows where they teamed up with Oxfam Great Britain to promote the movement against unfair trade.
© 2005 Oxfam America.
Oxfam America is a member of Oxfam International.
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