Daphne Sanders asking a question at the Economic Justice Forum Photo: Photo: Jackie Skinner.
Economic justice at Lancaster
The Economic Justice Forum takes place in Lancaster
Lancaster Friends were left ‘full of optimism’ after a day spent engaging with tough economic issues. The Economic Justice Forum was organised by Lancaster Friend Mo Kelly, who was inspired by the ‘Occupy’ movement.
She told the Friend that about eighty-five people had learnt about the ‘local, national and international contexts of economic justice’. She was keen that participants should ‘learn the facts’ to enable them to engage with the issues.
About half of those who attended the event on 17 March were Quakers. Other participants included members of Occupy Lancaster, the transition town movement and the local credit union.
Deborah Hargreaves of the High Pay Commission told the gathering that current levels of inequality in the UK are comparable with Victorian times. Economist Brian Davey spoke of the biblical concept of a debt jubilee. Anna Thomas of ActionAid gave an international perspective on corporate tax avoidance.
Mo Kelly said that learning about so much injustice could have been discouraging. Instead, there was ‘a hopeful sense that one can engage, in however small a way – locally, nationally and internationally’.
‘Things will change,’ she insisted. ‘I do believe this to be true’.
