Gael García Bernal

Mexican actor Gael García Bernal is well known for his social and political activism. An ardent supporter of Oxfam, he devotes a great deal of time and energy to campaigning and advocacy work.

The star of "Babel" and "The Motorcycle Diaries", he has supported Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign since 2005, when he had cotton dumped on him for a publicity campaign. In the same year he took part in the massive anti-poverty rally in Edinburgh. He joined a quarter of a million supporters of the Make Poverty History campaign to tell G8 leaders meeting in the Scottish capital to take action on aid, trade and debt.

In 2006, Gael visited peasant farmers in Chiapas, Mexico. He learnt about the impact of free trade deals on local corn and coffee producers. In witnessing the farmers' struggle to make a living he saw how they have suffered the disastrous effects of unfair trade.

Lobbying to make trade fair

Gael then flew to Hong Kong to represent Oxfam at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) summit. The multi-lingual actor lobbied leaders, ministers and ambassadors from around the world. He attended meetings; discussed ideas, presented case studies and talking to the media. He also joined African singer Angelique Kidjo and Chinese rock star Anthony Wong to hand over Oxfam's Big Noise petition to Pascal Lamy, Director General of the WTO. The petition contained 18 million signatures calling for fair trade rules.

Gael has lobbied decision-makers and spoken out in the media about regional trade agreements that the US and EU have imposed on poor countries. These policies have a devastating impact on small-scale farmers in developing nations. The grandson of Mexican farmers, he has been especially proactive in highlighting the injustice of the Free Trade Agreement between Mexico and North America. The agreement has left producers in his home country in a perilous situation, competing unprotected against heavily subsidised products from the US.

A climate campaigner

In 2008, Gael joined other Oxfam ambassadors in calling on world leaders at the G8 summit in Japan to boost funds for climate change, the food crisis and development aid.

In the same year he and other international figures, including Scarlett Johansson and Sir David Attenborough, called on world leaders to tackle climate change at the UN meeting in Poland.

Most recently, in the run up to the 2009 UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Gael fronted the tcktcktck climate change advert and Oxfam's Climate Challenge, an on-line interactive quiz.

Watch: Gael introduces the GROW campaign

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Watch the animations: The rigged rules of global trade

Oxfam's Climate Change campaign

Oxfam's GROW campaign