The issue of public protest has come into sharp focus again in the last couple of weeks with the situation at St Paul’s Cathedral. The quasi-standoff has probably not done anyone in the immediate vicinity any favours, but it has brought into public discourse some discussion about global economics.

The pleasing thing is that people are starting to see that this is not just a debate stuck in the old spectrum of left and right. Folks are waking up to the fact that the two forces arrayed against each other are actually DEMOCRACY and ADOLESCENT CAPITALISM.

The present global economic architecture is light years away from what capitalism’s architects would have envisaged or wanted. It is a global teenager running wild, enjoying its licence, as it has been told that individual selfishness will somehow en masse work together towards a common good. Imagine telling a teenager that being selfish was not just the best path for themselves, but for the greater good of their world. Capitalism needs to grow up, and fast, or leave the playground.

That the battleground now lies between democracy and this teenager has been made even clearer by the embattled actions of the eurozone leaders, reduced to the role of mere appeasers, desperate to produce a positive response from the great god “the market”. The fact that we have subcontracted our decision-making as ethical humans to a herd whose job descriptions call them to act in self-interest says almost everything that needs said. In fact the metaphor of the teenager breaks down slightly here, because it conveys at least some humanity, no matter how inexperienced, or risky their behaviour may be. 70% of the trading on Wall St is controlled by trading algorithms which buy and sell shares in milliseconds. The speed of these programmes caused a $2BN drop in share prices last year in just 20 minutes, as one computer followed another at rapid speed. Humans don’t even get a look in. Yet this is the inhuman reality that is now causing leaders to be made and unmade in its image. We were told that this invisible hand would naturally root out inefficiencies in all situations, but this thesis has been shown to have no clothes in the last few years.

You can almost see every global leader looking back over their shoulder as they make speeches, ensuring that “the market” will agree and respond positively. Significantly George Osbourne even publicly confessed this after his last budget speech. Electing politicians will become meaningless unless democracy wrests back power from the monster that we have created. Politicians’ hands are tied while a gun is pointing at their head, holding all of us to ransom. There are too many vested interests and investments involved to allow a “day of reckoning”, where a power shift happens back towards people. And by people I don’t mean shareholders. I mean normal people who have to take responsibility for their actions in a way that shareholders simply don’t. I am very interested in the work that Michael Schluter at RelationshipsGlobal has been doing. They are calling for a new relationship between shareholders and directors, where there is accountability and responsibility as opposed to the present divide between shareholders with a purely financial interest and no responsibility, and directors as management, with no concern over the operation and impact of companies on their stakeholders and society generally.

So you can see why some feel that protest and peaceful awkwardness (if necessary) becomes the only option left, if politicians are impotent and nobody else will listen. I will fight tooth and nail for folks like this to be heard, because there are multi-million pound PR departments at trans-national corporations and banks making the opposite arguments. I may not always agree with protesters’ messages, tactics or methodology but to paraphrase the biblical proverb, I want to “speak up for those without a huge PR budget”.

This connects with a challenge I met today while participating in various radio discussions. People questioned whether Jesus had a “bias to the poor” as famously stated by David Shepherd, the ex-Bishop of Liverpool. Some were offended at the presumption that God is in some way prejudiced. I like to playfully discuss it like this. Perhaps it is less a dogmatic thing, and perhaps it is simply that in the context of injustice, we as a people obviously aren’t on the side of the poor, so someone has to be, and God steps into that gap.

Today I also heard many different arguments trumpeted for the maintenance of the status quo. There was much concern that those protesting are not being productive members of society. To that I said two things -

1 – I went to visit the protest on Saturday and many of those there are normal families with normal jobs – not the benefit scroungers or middle-class yuppies as they have been handily be portrayed. Of course some folks are there as “rent a mob”, but if you wait for your perfect protest you will wait a long time.

2 – To tell all those folks to put their heads down and simply work harder to play their part is like telling folks to pedal faster towards the edge of a cliff. So not everyone in that crowd has an economics degree, but at present you don’t need a degree in economics to realise that we are headed in a very dangerous direction and that those finding short-term fixes do not have a sustainable long-term plan.

A nation which is devastatingly unequal will eventually explode. Protests will become not just a choice but the only course of action available. 25 years ago the ratio from top to bottom salary in a company was on average 14 to 1. In 2010 it was 128 to 1. 2 weeks ago the results of a survey of director’s pay was announced, stating that the average has gone up 50%. That is not happening at the bottom of the pile. Oh but you need to employ the best people, we hear. I don’t want our “best people” gambling for a living stuck in front of computer screens. I want them teaching, being youth workers and doctors, designing communities, nursing the infirm, and starting small businesses. And herein lies the rub. Entrepreneurs and enterprise get tarred with the same brush. Unhealthy class and professional lines are drawn. It is entirely possible to be pro-enterprise and anti-adolescent capitalism.

1.5 Trillion has been spent so far by the UK bailing out the banks – that’s £31,000 for every taxpayer in the country. It’s understandable why some may believe that there is “one rule for one and one rule for another”. Nothing seems to have changed, apart from some better CSR and PR from the banks. I don’t know about you, but I want a shop to be the best shop it can be, abiding by ethical guidelines. I don’t want it to run our schools or fund attention-grabbing projects. I want it to be a GOOD shop. (In the broadest sense of the word good.) I don’t want trans-national banks running healthcare programmes –I want them to be the best banks they can be. CSR and good PR will buy them time, but it is short-termism in the extreme, leading to a situation where we are even more beholden to those with cash to provide every service we want.

Entertainingly, health and safety concerns have been cited by the City of London Corporation as the reason for moving on the protest camp. When seen in the context of the big picture of the meltdown of the global financial system, it provides a neat irony. In terms of short-selling, credit derivative swaps, subprime mortgages and the like you have a whole profession of people blatantly disregarding the health and safety guidelines of high finance (when there actually were any). Most of the time, their suspect actions were left unchecked, in the most laissez-faire chapter of capitalism ever. Millions of people are now suffering as a result. Compare that to a few guy ropes tripping up someone taking an unwise route across a square. If the world of high finance was running a protest camp, there would not be any health and safety guidelines in the admirable way that the protesters have self-regulated themselves with regards to hygiene, recycling, and sharing. If the world of high finance was running a protest camp it would look more like a forest in the aftermath of a stag party paintballing, where it was every man for himself.

"It took me about four weeks to phone CAP after finding the leaflet. I wish I had done it much earlier. When my caseworker came round she was so friendly. I was able to give her all the paperwork, she took it all away and said 'dont worry it will get sorted out'. For the first time in seven years I dont mind the postman putting post in my door. I am a year into my CAP Account and I now manage to have food on the table and sometimes a little cash for social events with friends."
Jason, Bracknell

"I had got into debt during a long term relationship, and thought that I could buy love and affection. By the time I realised how much debt I was in, I was in total despair. My CAP caseworker was really friendly and totally non-judgemental, and nothing was a bother for her. CAP took away all my worries in one go – I feel like a different person. I now know exactly how much I can spend each month, and last Christmas was the best I have had in many years, as I was free from worry. In my opinion, your service is second to none. Thank you to everyone from CAP for returning my life to normal. I can now sleep at night without worrying about bailiffs knocking at the door. I cannot put into words the help that you gave me. Thank you."
John, Teeside

"I too was in debt and could see no way out. I was suicidal but CAP showed me it was possible to get out of debt and be stress free. Thanks CAP for all that you do, you are truly a blessing."
Ian, Edinburgh

They are a shining example of Christians speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves. They are simply loving people. They are a shining example of Christians who refuse the easy answers of EITHER/OR spirituality. For them it is BOTH/AND - solid practical help, pursuing social justice, while also sharing the faith (when appropriate),  that has inspired them to care and to serve some of the UK's poorest people. They are also praying for miraculous shifts in peoples' circumstances, and these are happening. They know and they have seen in many cases that sustainable transformation is HOLISTIC TRANSFORMATION, both external and internal. They have seen Christian faith be the key to releasing many people from the mindsets and lies that have held them captive and in debt. It was a privilege to celebrate with so many people experiencing new freedom.

Isaiah 58:6
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

As CSM continues to campaign on micro and macro-economic issues of debt, it is wonderful to see the local church so engaged. Some of the workers are realising the need to also get political, starting to get involved with CSM.

Things are moving.

If you want to go fast, go it alone. If you want to go far, go together.

I read Ecclesiastes Chapter 4 last week. It’s the passage that ends with “A chord of three strands is not easily broken.” Sadly the full impact of this passage is often missed because the “three strands” verse seems to have been co-opted for wedding use only!

That verse has its context in everything that precedes it. Incredible verses –

Verse 1 - I saw the tears of the oppressed—
   and they have no comforter;
power was on the side of their oppressors—
   and they have no comforter.

Verse 4 - And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Verse 6 - Better one handful with tranquillity
   than two handfuls with toil
   and chasing after the wind.

If ever there was a call to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves”, then this is it. It is a damning critique of our desire to consume at the expense of community, at the expense of the least fortunate among us, and at the expense of our own health. The chapter continues –

There was a man all alone;
   he had neither son nor brother.
There was no end to his toil,
   yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.
“For whom am I toiling,” he asked,
   “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?”
This too is meaningless—
   a miserable business!

 ⁹ Two are better than one,
   because they have a good return for their labour:
¹⁰ If either of them falls down,
   one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
   and has no one to help them up.
¹¹ Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
   But how can one keep warm alone?
¹² Though one may be overpowered,
   two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Do you see how the last verse now starts to make more sense? Can you see that it is a wider call to community as well as a handy verse for a marriage ceremony? Speaking of unions, it could even seem that the ancient author of Ecclesiastes was considering starting a union!

This chapter screams that we are on this earth to co-operate, not compete. We do this because we are all made in the image of God, and not to put too fine a point on it, God is a team. We have that same divine DNA in us – we are made for each other, and to succeed at the expense of someone else’s failure is not success in God’s eyes.

That is part of what the cord of 3 strands is suggesting. A God of 3 strands – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Theologians speak of perichoresis – the eternal 3-sided dance that incredibly we are invited to be part of.

So if you believe that Christians are called to be properly involved in the political systems and structures of our world, and not just shouting from the sidelines, then join with some others who have a similar passion. The Christian Socialist Movement exists to be a support, resource and network for Christians who are getting stuck in with politics on the left. It is an incredible adventure, with its joys and its challenges, but neither should be faced alone. That’s why we are encouraging our members all across the country to get together to support each other both practically and in prayer. A great example of this was during the general election of 2010, when CSM members moved all over the country helping their brothers and sisters to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves”. We are partners in the restoration, reconciliation and redemption of all things. But our God is a God who does things through relationship, even when that means going slower. His kingdom never moves faster than the speed of relationships. It can’t, because the very essence of God contains a set of relationships.

Come on. Take some more people with you.