G20 Christian Collective info sheet

"I would contend that the witness of this Spirit in action through small, often misunderstood groups of people, from Jesus to the early church and throughout history, is that love can and will, time and time again, make capitalism impossible and communism unnecessary." --Shane Claiborne

Climate change, human destruction of our natural world and the growing gap between rich and poor are stark evidence that we are failing as caretakers of our earth and each other. We are here as a group of faith-based people who are not prepared to sit back and allow this to happen.

We are here to protest the G20 because only the high priests of economics of the world's 20 richest countries have been invited to the table. Those who most strikingly pay the price of G20 policies - the environment and the poor - have been excluded.

We are here to remind the public and those in the meetings that it is useless to discuss economic policies in the absence of representatives of the poor and the environment. And so we are here to bear a physical reminder of the excluded, the marginalised, the ignored. To symbolise their presence, even here, outside the barricades.

As Christians we believe in and work towards an alternative economy where there are no rich or poor, and all have a seat at the table.

"A G20 Christian Collective" will hold a 60-hour street vigil from 7:30am Friday 17th November to Sunday 19th November. We are setting up a "3rd World and Environment Ministers' Embassies" outside the barricades to the Hyatt hotel, where the G20 are meeting. We camp here requesting tickets to the meeting on behalf of the excluded.

Some of us will be staying overnight at the barricades and will eat nothing but rice and water for 60 hours to show our solidarity with the world's poor and to experience a little of the suffering they experience on a daily basis.

We are committed to nonviolence. A G20 Christian Collective will, however, actively confront oppressive policies by embodying an alternative, not just this weekend, but every day. We invite all people to join us - police, other protestors, G20 representatives, Christians and those of other or no faith.

Together, in love, we can make a better world.