Direct public action is a powerful tool in making governments think again on international issues. In the past couple of years alone, public campaigns have secured real reductions in Third World debt, a global agreement limiting trade in genetically modified organisms and an international treaty banning landmines.

Five ways to make a difference

Buy fairly traded goods - This is the easiest action people in Britain can take in their everyday lives. Simply choose fairly traded tea, coffee, bananas and many other products to ensure a fair deal and a secure future for farmers in the developing world.

Use your consumer power - Every purchase you make can send a message to retailers and the companies which supply them. Find out from magazines such as Ethical Consumer which companies should be supported and which are best avoided, and ask retailers to stock products made by responsible firms.

Use your money wisely - You now have ethical alternatives for banking, investment and pensions as well as your weekly shopping. Make sure your money helps rather than harms the world's poor.

Write to your MP - Write to your MP by all means, but don't allow yourself to be fobbed off with a standard piece of sophistry from a minister. Better than writing, turn up up at your MP's surgery and demand to know what he or she is doing about so-and-so. But be well armed with facts.

Join campaigns - Join campaigns that take direct action, not those that merely make you feel good. Beware all campaigns and staged events led by rock stars. There are plenty of others, from the campaigns of the World Development Movement, to the anti-war movement.

Activists of Jubilee 2000 on a beach in Nago, Okinawa, Japan, , 2000, hold up banners calling for dropping the debt of poor nations.