THINK GLOBAL
Act locally with Global Justice Now
March 2016 
Contents 02 Welcome 03 News roundup 04 Food sovereignty campaign 07 Energy democracy campaign 09 Trade justice campaign 11 Groups and activism news 12 Current materials
Global Justice Now’s northern powerhouse Laura Williams Activism team It’s four months since I took up my position as activism officer based in Manchester. Given all of the attention that Manchester’s been getting recently, it’s been a really exciting time to start engaging in discussion about the future of the city, bringing social justice into the debate. Although I’m supporting activists across the north of England, what we’re trying to achieve in Manchester specifically will, we hope, benefit the whole network. Two new initiatives have been particularly exciting to work on. The first has been to strengthen our links with the union movement. Building on activism around TTIP and other trade deals in Manchester, I’ve been leading on developing a partnership with Unison North West, with whom I’m establishing training for Unison activists across the region. This will equip them with the skills required to confidently engage in debates around free trade deals and activate TTIP Free Zones campaigns around the north west. We now have our sights on encouraging these new activists to work in support of our local groups’ efforts to get ten northern cities to declare themselves TTIP Free Zones by the summer. We’re also looking at strengthening the campaign for energy democracy in Manchester. This has come at the perfect time for the city. There’s renewed interest in local democracy emerging around the devolution debate, and Manchester City Council is currently in the initial stages of establishing its own public energy company.
Inserts General
• AGM notice and proxy voting form (groups only) • Local government lobbying notes
Trade
• TTIP prayer pack • TTIP and tax justice short report • Updated TTIP briefing 2 March 2016
So I’m now focusing my efforts on bringing a Switched On London style campaign – which calls for a public energy company founded on sustainable, democratic and social justice principles – to Manchester (see page 7 for more). This work has been significantly strengthened by a series of This Changes Everything showings in the city, reaching more than 200 people, helping to place Global Justice Now at the centre of the energy democracy discussion in Manchester. Our goal is that experiments like these will create valuable learning that can be shared across our network, and serve as vehicles through which Global Justice Now activists can become better able to play a key role in campaigning for social justice – both in the north and beyond.
News from Global Justice Now Media highlights
Our report on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s corporate-friendly development agenda made a splash in the media from India to the USA and even made it to Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs where some of the criticisms were put directly to Bill Gates himself. We exposed the links between trade deals such as TTIP and tax injustice with coverage by the Guardian and the Independent and several other media outlets across Europe.
New activism staff
Following Alice’s departure from the team after she became leader of the Wales Green Party, we have recruited a new activism and events assistant. Some of you will know Sam Lund-Harket as he has spent over three years as a campaigns assistant at Global Justice Now. Sam was keen for a change of scene, and his organising skills will be a great asset to the activism team. He’s starting on the team in early March. We have also recruited Kennedy Walker to a paid internship position in the team. Kennedy will be with us until September and will focus particularly on organising younger activists.
Great Manchester Run
We have secured five places at the 10k Great Manchester Run taking place on Sunday 22 May. If you’re interested in taking part or know someone who might be, you
Action checklist
can find more information on globaljustice. org.uk/greatrun or contact Malise on malise. rosbech@globaljustice.org.uk.
EU referendum consultation
In early February, following a discussion at Global Justice Now’s council meeting, we sent out a short consulation to group contacts about our position on the upcoming EU referendum. Council had provisionally decided that Global Justice Now should adopt a ‘critical in’ position, but wanted to check that their thinking was in line with a majority of groups and members. As Think Global goes to print there are a couple of days to go until the deadline, but it is looking like a big majority of both groups and members agree with the council’s position. This doesn’t mean it will become a major part of our campaigning in the next few months, but it will allow us to speak out on social justice issues in the context of the referendum debate.
Groups survey
Thanks to all those groups who have filled in the groups survey. If your group hasn’t done it yet, there’s still time. If you’d rather not, it’s not a problem, but the activism team will be spending some time in the next few months looking carefully at your answers and thinking about how we can best support individual groups and the network as a whole. Any groups who haven’t yet filled in the new groups agreement however, please do so soon!
Food sovereignty
Lobby your MEP to call for the EU to withdraw support for the New Alliance. Discuss taking action against Monsanto and order a campaign pack.
Trade justice
Anyone with university connections could help make it ‘TTIP free’.
Climate/energy
Check out Switched on London and think about local angles. March 2016 3
Food sovereignty Challenging the New Alliance in the European parliament The European parliament process to scrutinise the New Alliance is underway. The process will last until June and will result in a final report that will be submitted to the European Commission. The Commission will then have three months to formally respond to the recommendations of the European parliament. Over the next few months, we will try to ensure that the final report criticises the New Alliance and challenges its whole approach. This is the best opportunity we’ve had to attack and challenge the New Alliance through a political process. The initial draft report was published at the beginning of February and was very critical of the New Alliance. However, at the next stage there will be amendments suggested to the report followed by a vote in the development committee in April and a final plenary vote in the parliament in June. Here’s a summary of the timetable: • 14 March: MEPs on the development committee will debate amendments • 20/21 April 2016: Vote in development committee. The committee will need to agree the final report that includes their assessment of the New Alliance and their resolution (what they are calling on the European Commission to do). • 6 June (tbc): Vote in the whole European Parliament to agree the report
What can groups and activists do? At the time of writing the amendments are not known but as soon as we have these we will provide groups with an overview of which amendments we want MEPs to support or vote against. This will include our key asks. 4 March 2016
UK MEPs and their roles on the European parliament’s development committee Linda McAvan (Labour, Yorkshire and the Humber) - Chair Nirj Deva (Conservative, South East of England) - Vice chair Nathan Gill (UKIP, Wales) - Member Catherine Bearder (Liberal Democrats, South East of England) - Substitute Seb Dance (Labour, London) - Substitute
Although none of the lead MEPs on the committee is British, there are three British MEPs who are members of the development committee and two British MEPs who are substitute members. If you are in the region of one of these MEPs we encourage you to get in touch with them (either by email or ideally meeting face to face). Our demand is that they support a final report that calls for the EU to withdraw support from the New Alliance. For groups that don’t have a development committee member in their region, you can still contact MEPs and ask them to pass your concerns onto their colleagues on the committee. We will also be launching an e-action targeting the key MEPs once we have seen the amendments. For further support with this, please contact Heidi (heidi.chow@ globaljustice.org.uk) or Aisha (aisha. dodwell@globaljustice.org.uk).
Join us to protest the New Alliance in Brussels There are a number of NGOs across Europe that will also be utilising the opportunity of the New Alliance to ramp up lobbying and campaigning against the New Alliance. On
14 March we and our European allies will be organising a protest along with our EU allies outside the development committee meeting in Brussels. We’ll be letting the members of the committee know that this is an issue of huge public concern. It would be great if any activists and group members would like to join us! Please contact Dan, dan.iles@globaljustice.org.uk, to find out more. We may also be able to help with travel costs.
Food speculation update
In the latest issues of Think Global we have updated you on our concerns about the way the EU is proposing to regulate food speculation. In mid-February we launched an e-action calling on supporters to sign our open letter to the European Commission. We press released the open letter as well as delivered it to the Commission (see photo above). We will know in the next month or so what the Commission finally decide and we may have to continue fighting this at the European parliament. We will keep you posted.
Taking on Monsanto
We are currently developing new materials for local activism targeting Monsanto, the global seed and chemical company. Monsanto is one of the biggest players in corporate agriculture in the world, owning a quarter of the world’s commercial seeds, and is one of the biggest agro-chemical companies. It wields huge amounts of power and wealth, which it uses to push for the corporate control of agriculture that we are campaigning against. It is very influential in global food and agricultural policy, and is involved in many international agricultural projects and agreements, including the New Alliance and the Alliance for a Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA). Monsanto is able to maintain its position through fierce lobbying of regulatory bodies, maintaining strong ‘revolving doors’ with decision makers, aggressive PR and marketing campaigns and through well documented underhand tactics. Following an in-depth discussion with a focus group of some of our activists in January, we March 2016 5
have decided to target Monsanto using their flagship product, the weed-killer Roundup, as a hook to engage people. Last year the World Health Organisation classified glyphosate, the chemical used in Roundup, as ‘probably causing cancer’. Roundup can be purchased in retail outlets such as garden centres, Homebase, B&Q, superstores of the main supermarket chains and is commonly used in public spaces such as communal gardens, parks, schools etc.
Order your materials We are producing spoof Roundup materials as a hook to talk about issues of corporate power in the food system and how it can affect ordinary people, everywhere. It would be great if groups could organise stunts in April and May to lead up to the international march against Monsanto. We’ll be asking people to take local actions to ditch Roundup and similar chemicals in their community to resist Monsanto’s influence locally. We will also encourage actions connected to our main campaign to stop Monsanto’s power growing globally. Packs will be ready at the beginning of April and will include: • Spoof leaflets promoting the benefits of Monsanto’s flagship product Roundup • Spoof labels for Roundup • Spoof leaflet stands • Campaign briefing explaining the issues for the public • Local groups resource guide – pack for local groups explaining the key issues and ideas for actions The local groups’ resource guide included in the pack will provide you further details and ideas about how you can plan your local activism on this. We will be sending out packs to all groups in the June Think Global but if you would like a pack before then please let dan.iles@globaljustice.org.uk know.
6 March 2016
Can you help us get 1,000 new Global Justice Now members? Last year our new name and higher profile attracted 800 new members, which was 300 more than the previous year. We think we can do even better in 2016. As a member of Global Justice Now you’re part of a community that challenges inequality around the world. The more national members we have, the stronger our voice as an organisation as we stand up to the rich and powerful who control the majority of the world’s resources. We rely on members to ensure we can remain an independent and outspoken voice where others can’t because of their funding relationships. Being outspoken is something Global Justice Now groups and members have always prided themselves on and being funded primarily by individuals means this can always continue. And joining with a regular direct debit is important because it keeps our admin costs down and ensures we can plan and run campaigns that often last several years. So, how can you help? You could of course join yourself if you’re not currently a paid up member to help us reach our 1,000 target. And you can help us get more members at events you’re running, while also recruiting new members for your local group. It’s easy to do, and often easiest if the person speaking or introducing the event explains briefly why joining is important and then tells them where to sign up at the end (e.g. on a stall). If you’d like to speak to a member of staff, then call 020 7820 4900 to find out more or to express an interest in helping us reach 1,000 new members. A membership form is included with this mailing and more can be ordered from the office.
Energy democracy Switched on London
An exciting new campaign has just launched in the capital which aims to persuade the Greater London Authority and London’s borough councils to set up a publicly-owned, democratically-controlled renewable energy company for London. The campaign was launched by Fuel Poverty Action, Platform and the New Economics Foundation and is explicitly based on an energy democracy model. They are hoping to make an impact on the London mayoral elections in the first phase of the campaign. Global Justice Now is supporting the campaign, and we are hoping the concept spreads around the UK.
switchedonlondon.org.uk and contact the activism team to discuss local campaigning possibilities.
Energy democracy globally
Nick attended an international energy democracy meeting in Amsterdam. There were 30 people from around the world and a mix of social justice and environmental campaigns, academics and trade unions. The group decided to try to bring together politicians from the new progressive wave (Podemos, Syriza and Corbyn’s Labour) to develop more thinking on what an alternative vision of energy could look like. There was also talk of working on the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), looking at the energy impacts of that treaty. TiSA threatens to significantly hinder energy democracy and attempts to meet climate targets – yet another good reason to campaign against it. This is an interesting area of work where climate and energy overlap with trade.
NIAF annual review
Beyond London The campaign was partly inspired by international examples from countries such as Germany, but also from the fact that Nottingham City Council has already set up something simiilar (Robin Hood Energy), albeit without any direct democratic controi or environmental dimension, and just focusing on reducing people’s energy bills. Although this particular campaign is based in London, it has already inspired activists in Manchester to start planning a similar campaign, and could easily spread elsewhere. Check out the website at
DFID’s annual review of its privatisation work in Nigeria has been released. The Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility phase 2 (NIAF2) review has many flaws. Our major concerns are with the electricity privatisation. In 2014 poverty reduction impacts are almost completely absent from the reporting. However, prices have increased for the vast majority of people. In a country where 46% live below the poverty line many Nigerians are now paying nearly 200% more for electricity while Adam Smith International, the consultant behind the project, has been paid over £77m by DFID for this project so far. If you haven’t already, please sign our petition to ask development minister Nick Hurd to stop wasting UK aid money on this failed scheme and send it on to your friends. March 2016 7
Threat to local divestment
You may have seen our recent petition about the government’s attempt to stop councils making ethical pension investment decisions. At the moment local authorities have the right to divest their pensions on an ethical basis if they wish. There are many different reasons to want councils to hold on to this power. It’s been a part of our democracy for years and was vital in Britain’s ability to boycott apartheid South Africa. We saw the government’s move as a clear threat to local democracy, to the movement for divestment and to energy democracy. That is why we have chosen to work on this campaign with 350.org and War on Want.
Plan B for Europe Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis told the EU to ‘democratise or disintegrate’ at an activist gathering in Madrid in February. The Plan B conference drew1,500 people from Spain and around Europe. The aim was to start to cohere a truly pan-European movement for a Europe which prioritises people over profit. Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden spoke at the closing rally (right) alongside Varoufakis and others. Read his reportback at globaljustice.org.uk/blog
8 March 2016
The government consultation is now closed, but we will keep you informed of any future opportunities to campaign on this. Sam’s blog about the issue is on our website at globaljustice.org.uk/blog/2016/feb/15/localdemocracy-under-attack.
Staff update
As noted on page 3, Sam is about to move into the activism team, so we’ll be low on climate and energy capacity for a while. Contact aisha.dodwell@globaljustice.org.uk with any questions you have.
Trade justice TTIP negotiations
The latest and 12th round of negotiations has just taken place in Brussels (22-26 February). There are signs of panic on the pro-TTIP side: Obama is planning a visit to Germany in April to shore up the project and the slow progress of this stage of negotiations is ringing alarm bells across the EU. The biggest sticking point appears to be the arguments around investor-state dispute settlement. In a nutshell: we’ve created such a fuss and furore about investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism that the EU have come up with an ‘alternative’, called the Investor Court System (ICS). Except it’s not really an alternative. They’re suggesting setting up a permanent court but almost every single one of the problems with ISDS remain in the new version. There is a forensic analysis of the two systems in the Corporate Europe Observatory’s excellent briefing The Zombie ISDS, available free to download.
European partners
The EU-wide movement will be launching a campaign and online tools aimed at getting MEPs to pledge to vote against CETA and TTIP. We hope this will go live in April or May. There is also a call for an international day of action on trade for Saturday 5 November. We will do some thinking with UK partners about what to organise on this day. On 31 May there will be an event (yet to be decided exactly what) in Amsterdam to highlight the threat of CETA and TTIP during the Dutch presidency of the European Council.
TTIP Free Zones and Universities
We now have a total of 34 TTIP Free Zones in the UK, with Birmingham the latest to declare its opposition to the deal. We will shortly be relaunching the campaign with 38 Degrees
and will send an update to groups as soon as this is ready. We’ve also been working with Students Against TTIP, the University and Colleges Union and NUS to push for TTIP Free Universities. A number of student unions have passed motions on this already. A resource pack for TTIP Free Universities is being prepared and will be ready by April. We will send it out in the next Think Global but in the meantime you can order one by emailing activism@globaljustice.org.uk. On 21-22 April Barcelona City council will be hosting an event to promote and spread the idea of TTIP Free Zones. The first day is intended for mayors and their representatives and the second day a bigger event open to activists, with a proposed open air meeting and entertainment in the evening.
Scottish anti-CETA petition
Activists from St. Andrews, Dundee, Dunfermline, Glasgow and Edinburgh converged on Holyrood at the beginning of February to protest against CETA, together with Global Justice Now staff. The demonstration was timed to follow an evidence session on CETA at one of the committees at the Scottish Parliament. MSPs from the European and External Relations committee were questioning members of the European Commission in Canada about the trade deal. Outside the parliament we handed in a petition to the Deputy Convenor of the committee. The petition calls on the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to oppose the trade deal. It raised an impressive 8,000 signatures in under a week. If you live in Scotland, you can still sign the petition at speakout.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns/ Scotland-stop-ceta
Holyrood candidates and TTIP
The top Scottish Green candidates for the Holyrood elections in May were the first two people to sign the Scotland Against TTIP March 2016 9
election pledge in February. Global Justice Glasgow members took a photo of the candidates with the pledge at the local Green party AGM, where they held a stall. The Scotland Against TTIP election pledge commits candidates to opposing TTIP and CETA if they are elected to parliament in May. We are asking local activists across Scotland to lobby their local election candidates to sign the pledge, and to take a picture of them with the pledge which we will collect online. Candidates will also be able to sign the pledge on a new website we are creating. For the latest information, go to www.globaljustice.org.uk/holyrood . If you would like some copies of the pledge for lobbying your local candidates, please email the Scottish office: jane.herbstritt@ globaljustice.org.uk
One third of councils in Scotland oppose TTIP Over the winter months, there was a flurry of councils in Scotland passing motions opposing TTIP (and CETA too in some cases). Since November, motions have been passed in East Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Stirling and Highland Council, expressing concern over TTIP. St. Andrews TTIP Action Group is also now trying to persuade Fife Council to support a motion entirely opposing CETA. This means that a third of
10 March 2016
councils in Scotland now oppose TTIP – a great achievement!
New materials
Included in this mailing is a new prayer pack on trade. Many Christian groups and congregations have been active on trade issues in the past, particularly where they affect the global south, and this pack has been designed to draw more of those groups into TTIP campaigning. Please contact Effie on effie.jordan@globaljustice.org.uk or 020 7820 4900 if you would like further copies or know of sympathetic audiences we can distribute it to. Also included is an updated introductory briefing on TTIP, and a report on TTIP and tax justice, co-produced with the Transnational Institute.
Groups and activism news This Changes Everything screenings Global Justice Portsmouth organised an extremely well attended screening of This Changes Everything, with an audience of 135 people, at which they had a stall highlighting our campaigns. Global Justice Reading also held a screening with over 100 people, with 70 staying for a discussion afterwards. Global Justice Leicester is organising at least two, and possibly more, screenings of This Changes Everything, partnering with Leicester’s Arts Film Theatre, and environmental groups, including Leicester Friends of the Earth and an anti-fracking group at the university. Global Justice Nottingham spoke at a debate at COP21 at Nottingham Trent University. They were on a panel with representatives from Friends of the Earth, Frack Free Notts, This Changes Nottingham, and the Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem and Green parties. They also teamed up with This Changes Nottingham to organise a well-attended screening of This Changes Everything.
TTIP campaigning
Global Justice Now South Lakes showed This Changes Everything on 22 Jan to a full house of 60 followed by a discussion about the film and TTIP. Two members subsequently lobbied Tim Farron MP, trying to get him to commit to four proposed red lines on TTIP.
in Albania, and have an upcoming one on the latest developments with TTIP and CETA.
East Midlands gathering
Global Justice Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Northamptonshire are working together to organise an East Midlands regional gathering for activists in our network, focusing on new campaign developments. It will take place on 16 April. Contact ed.lewis@ globaljustice.org.uk if you want to come along.
AGM and national gathering
This year’s AGM will take place as part of what we’re calling a national gathering. As with national events in the past we’ll have an interesting speaker (which we’re confirming now) and a variety of workshops. This year we’re hoping to create more space for Global Justice Now activists to shape the organisation’s campaigning and get involved in strategising about how we engage more people. More information will be available soon. Saturday 4 June, registration from 10am Human Rights Action Centre, 25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA For groups, further details of the AGM and a proxy voting form are included in this mailing. The latest information about the national gathering is available online at globaljustice.org.uk/national-gathering-2016
Global Justice Manchester has launched their campaign to make Manchester a TTIP Free Zone. Global Justice Gloucestershire continues to run public discussion groups on international issues. Recent discussions have focused on the aftermath of COP21, the role of charities March 2016 11
Current materials Exploring alternatives booklets
• BOOKLET: Another Economy is Possible economic democracy • BOOKLET: Seeds of Change - food sovereignty • BOOKLET: Rays of Hope - energy justice
Food sovereignty
• REPORT: Irresponsible Investment • BRIEFING: Growing evidence against the New Alliance • ACTION CARD: Growing Power • BOOKLET: On Solid Ground (agroecology) • REPORT: From The Roots Up (agroecology) • POSTER: Colonial infographic poster • BRIEFING: Agribusiness campaign questions and answers • BRIEFING: MP talking points (agribusiness) • BOOKLET: Stop the corporate takeover of African food • BRIEFING: Problems with corporate controlled seeds • BRIEFING: Food sovereignty • BRIEFING: Food sovereignty tricky questions
Energy justice
• NEWSPAPER: The Road Through Paris, climate justice newspaper • BRIEFING: COP out: Why Paris won’t deliver and what we need instead. • LEAFLET: Give corporate controlled energy the boot • BRIEFING: Energy privatisation in Nigeria • BRIEFING: Towards a just energy system (campaign overview) • ACTION CARD: Energy justice in Nigeria • BRIEFING: 10 reasons why energy privatisation fails • FILM GUIDE: List of films relating to the campaign
General materials
• LEAFLET: Another world is possible (about Global Justice Now with joining form) • LEAFLET: Join a local group leaflet (can be overprinted with groups’ contact details) • SIGN-UP SHEET: Double-sided, Global Justice Now branded • STICKERS and BADGES
T-shirts now available online The ‘Our World is Not for Sale’ t-shirt we produced for our relaunch is now available to buy online. The striking lino-cut design by Daniel Strange shows people organising for a world that isn’t ruled by the priorities of big business. It’s a stylish, sweatshop-free t-shirt made from organic, fairtrade cotton and is now available for just £12, including postage and packing. Buy it now at globaljustice.org.uk/tshirt
Trade
• **NEW REPORT: TTIP and tax justice • **NEW PRAYER PACK: TTIP and trade justice • **NEW BREIFING: The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership • LEAFLET: 4-page TTIP leaflet • FLYER: group-specific TTIP flyer • BRIEFING: Five reasons TTIP and CETA are a disaster for the climate. • BRIEFING: Regulatory Cooperation • BRIEFING: CETA • TTIP Free Zone campaign pack: POSTER, BADGE and LEAFLET • NEWSPAPER: The #NoTTIP Times, third edition • BRIEFING: Profiting from people and the planet (general trade briefing) • BRIEFING: Campaigning on TTIP in local authorities