THINK GLOBAL
Act locally with Global Justice Now
May 2017 
Contents 02 Welcome 03 News roundup 04 Migration 06 Trade justice 08 General election 09 National gathering 10 Groups and activism update 12 Current materials Cover photo: Outgoing NUS president Malia Bouattia speaks at We Rise, our youth national gathering in April.
Inserts General
• Consultation (groups only) • Stop Trump coalition leaflets • Election Doorstep Challenge cards • Great Repeal Bill leaflet
Trade
• Trading with Trump briefing 2 May 2017
Escape from Brexit island Sam Lund-Harket Activism team There’s an election coming which threatens to intensify the severity of the government’s already hard-line Brexit strategy. We’re leaving the EU and on no uncertain terms. But Global Justice Now isn’t leaving Europe - in fact we think these times call for a strengthening of ties with our European allies. That’s why we’ll be joining global justice activists from across Europe at the European Summer University (ESU) in Toulouse this August for five days of discussions, organising, debate and celebration. The ESU happens every three years and is organised by ATTAC, an international network that Global Justice Now is part of, and which fights the power of big corporations and the 1% . Some of you may have met ATTAC activists in Paris in 2015 where they played a leading role in the UN climate talk mobilisations. We’d like to build on these ties and continue to grow this pan-European movement. Activists from a huge range of groups and campaigns from across Europe will be gathering for the ESU. It’s a chance to find out about and learn from the struggles of our European allies, and how they wage them. Activism is thriving on the continent, just look at France; from the recent Nuit Debout street debates which flourished in opposition to recent labour law reform, to the ZAD, a 30-year resistance camp to a new airport which still gets thousands of farmers and environmentalists to its protests. There will also be people involved in the energy transition (Energiwende) in Germany, and from Podemos and the radical citizen platform Barcelona en Comú in Spain, among many others. During the day, speakers from around the world, in workshops and organising sessions, will address the issues of inequality, refugee rights, democracy, climate justice, war, neoliberalism, the future of the EU and more. At night there’ll be plenty of music and entertainment to enjoy too. Our work with other ATTAC chapters interested in involving more young people in activism has led to the ESU featuring a whole strand of events run for and by young people. There’ll be cheap accommodation and food and we’ll be offering travel subsidies for young people, so please spread the word. But this will be an event for everyone both young and old, including those interested in a holiday in southern France! Toulouse is a picturesque city within striking distance of the south coast and the Pyrenees. We hope you can make it.
News from Global Justice Now The calling of a snap election two weeks ago meant some of our campaign plans had to be quickly revised. We also hurriedly prepared the Doorstep Challenge cards included with this issue. However, we had to delay the postal version of Think Global by several days so we had time to get them printed. Apologies if this has caused any issues for your group.
Media highlights
Our ‘Say no To Trump’ projection was picked up by international newswires and appeared in a wide array of international media, while Dottie appeared on the BBC2 Daily Politics programme to discuss the Trump protests. We worked with Clive Lewis MP to place comment pieces on the Great Repeal Bill in Indy Voices and the Mirror, and our comments on the bill featured prominently in the National in Scotland. Our Hope Not Hate trainings in Manchester featured in the Big Issue in the North. The launch of our M&S/Daily Mail campaign was featured prominently in the National in Scotland.
Action checklist
Consultation
Included with this issue of Think Global, for groups only, is a consultation on our future campaigning. The deadline to respond, online if possible, is 18 June. Individual members of Global Justice Now will get a chance to respond to a shorter version of the consultation in June.
Dates for your diary National gathering
Saturday 10 June Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol See page 9 for more info.
Attac European Summer University
23-27 August, Toulouse, France A major event bringing together activists from our sister organisations in ATTAC across Europe which we are involved in organising. Most sessions will either be in English or have simultaneous translation. Affordable accommodation options will be available. If you’re interested in going, check out www.esu2017.org and let Sam know so we can make sure you get the support information we’ll be producing: sam.lund-harket@globaljustice.org.uk
Migration Complain to M&S stores about the company advertising in the Daily Mail.
Other Discuss the consultation in your group meeting and get the results back to us (groups only)
Keep doing stalls and instore actions and communicate the results
Book your place at the national gathering in Bristol.
General election Use the Doorstep Challenge cards to ask questions of your candidates in organised hustings or elsewhere. May 2017 3
Migration
A member’s Twitter feed with photos from an M&S action
M&S campaign progress
Our campaign to get Marks and Spencer to stop advertising in the Daily Mail has been gathering a lot of support. So far, 700 campaign packs have been ordered, with evidence of action across the country, from Brighton to Edinburgh. Over 45000 people have taken the online action asking Steve Rowe, CEO of M&S, to pull M&S’ support for the Daily Mail. This figure had a major boost when the online campaigning organisation SumOfUs got behind our campaign and promoted it to their supporters. Steve Rowe, the CEO of M&S, has responded to us, stating that because of M&S’ desire to reach as many customers as possible, they will continue to advertise in all the publications that their customers read, including the Daily Mail. Of course this ignores the fact that many of M&S’ customers are people who have signed the petition - and many more are migrants or others targeted by Daily Mail’s hate But we’re confident that with continued and increased pressure, we can convince this most brand-conscious of companies to stop funding hate. 4 May 2017
Building the pressure
To build enough pressure to win this campaign, here are some of the most important steps to take:
Make your actions visible online Right now, we don’t know if we have a record of all the actions that have been taken. But the more actions we know about, the better our chance of getting national media interest in the campaign. You can make sure that we know about your action by posting images of it on social media and using the hashtag #stopfundinghate. If you don’t use social media, then just email us with a brief account of your action. If you’ve taken an action previously and haven’t done either of these things, please do let us know!
Complaining to M&S stores Another way of building the pressure from below is by letting individual M&S stores know the feelings of their customers. You can find your nearest store on line at marksandspencer.com/gp/store-locator. This
will give you the store’s phone number where you could ask to speak to the manager. Alternatively, you could go into the store. For guidance on what to say, here is an example of how you could open the conversation: “As a customer of M&S, I’m contacting you because I’m concerned that the company isn’t living up to the ethical standards it sets itself. The campaign group Global Justice Now has brought to my attention that M&S advertises in the Daily Mail. You may not be aware but the Daily Mail has been spreading a climate of hate and fear about migrants with its headlines about ‘migrant swarms’ and other inflammatory and racist language.” Otherwise, you can write a letter to your local store. A template letter is included with this issue of Think Global.
M&S in Edinburgh gets a smattering of our cards
If you do complain, please make sure to let the office know that you have taken action. Send a quick email to ed.lewis@ globaljustice.org.uk so that we can keep a record of what’s happening.
will make the campaign message clearer and make the Daily Mail headlines much less prominent, and we will be adjusting the A5 flyer as well. The small business card slip will remain unchanged.
Take action at the M&S AGM
To order new campaign materials, email kahra.wayland-larty@globaljustice.org.uk. Please put ‘materials order’ in the subject line of your email.
The M&S AGM tends to take place in early July in London, and we expect the same this year, though the date and location are not fixed. However, we will be organising some kind of public action outside the AGM. Once we know more about the AGM and have developed an action plan we will contact groups with more info.
Updating the M&S campaign materials Our campaign materials have been widely used in this campaign so far and activist have taken some great pictures of actions inside and outside M&S stores. However, there has also been some feedback from groups that the prominence of the Daily Mail headlines, especially on the poster, may cause some confusion and even reinforce the messages that our campaign is intended to undermine. Therefore, we are in the process of producing a new poster which
Future directions for the migration campaign Migration is a huge issue in politics today and there are many important issues to address in addition to the issue of divisive and hateful media coverage. See some of the possible areas the campaign could go next in the consultation document. To help us plan the next steps for the migration campaign, please use the consultation questions to give your view.
May 2017 5
Trade justice A new phase
Dangerous deals being done in the dark: That’s the new name for the next phase of our trade campaign. Whether it is the new deals that the UK government is lining up, its plans to roll over existing EU deals, the Brexit trade deal itself or CETA coming to the UK for ratification, the government is going full steam ahead on trade – trade ministers have travelled further than the distance to the moon since the summer trying to lay the ground for future deals. Yet they are doing this in total secrecy, without any oversight from parliament or accountability to ordinary people. CETA is highlighting how flimsy the ratification process is. MPs actually have no way to stop a trade deal outright. And they are completely shut out of what is already underway around potential new deals – trade ministers have refused to give any information about what is going on to MPs. If we want trade to work for people, we need a better way of negotiating and agreeing
trade deals. One that is open to input from the public and their elected representatives and can be shaped democratically. So this phase of our trade campaign will focus on: • demanding a more democratic, inclusive and transparent way of creating trade policy and agreeing deals; • stopping toxic trade deals – from the ratification of CETA to the deals beginning to be put together between the UK and the US, the Gulf States or India, we will oppose elements that are bad for people and the environment; • calling for alternative principles for trade that can work for good.
What you can do now
To make this next phase of campaigning as effective as possible, we need to start raising awareness with UK MPs. Much of our campaigning on TTIP and CETA was with MEPs and, while many groups did also talk to their MPs, we now need to start making sure our MPs are really aware of the issues and focusing on them even more. Over the election period, you can ask candidates on the doorstep and at hustings about how they would protect our public services such as the NHS and environment and health standards from trade deals – see the election postcard for help.
TRADE DEMOCRACY NOW New trade democracy campaign draft design
6 May 2017
Many MPs are not aware of how little say they have on trade. We want to start building cross-party support on this issue. We had planned to launch a new postcard and leaflet to write to MPs about the need for trade democracy in this issue of Think Global, but the general election has required us to adjust our plans. We are now intending to develop a petition, and a postcard and leaflet for this will be included in the next full Think Global in July and should be available for order before that.
Once the dust settles after the election, we will be working on more actions to MPs that groups can take up on trade democracy. This is likely to include campaigning for MPs to support a new EDM (Early Day Motion, a kind of parliamentary petition), most likely in the autumn.
New campaign materials
Trading with Trump, included with this issue of Think Global, is our new briefing on the possibility of a US-UK trade deal. Such a deal would be likely to include all the elements that made TTIP so controversial, but in a more extreme form – TTIP on steroids. The UK would also be at a huge disadvantage – May’s government desperately wants a deal, while Trump’s trade team is taking a very aggressive approach to trade, openly talking of trade wars. We have shared a list of ten principles for trade that can work for good with several political parties as they are drafting their manifesto. This will be developed further into a briefing shortly.
Update on earlier parliamentary work As you may remember, we have been promoting an early day motion in the House of Commons, EDM 642, on the need for democratic review of the UK’s support for ISDS, the ‘corporate court’ system. This EDM will be closed when parliament is dissolved on 3 May. At the time of writing the EDM had 117 signatures supporting it, making it one of the top ten most supported EDMs of this parliamentary session, which has been great for raising the profile of this issue with MPs.
We Rise reportback Excerpt from a blog post by youth network member Amanda Cave Young people from across the country gathered at Goldsmiths University in London, united by the shared belief that something must be done about the current state of things – that is, the rise of the far right and the wave of right-wing populism engulfing much of the world. One key theme that arose from all of the speakers at the event was that, for all that we rightly deplore the politics of Donald Trump, the similarities between the US and the UK governments cannot be ignored. NUS president Malia Bouattia and Nick Dearden pointed out that Theresa May’s immigration policies are just as bad as Trump’s. Our Conservative government is actively pursuing an agenda to create a ‘hostile environment’ for migrants. This includes deporting hundreds of people on mass charter flights in the middle of the night in the hope that no one will notice, and locking up migrants in detention centres with no time limit. In the Stop Trump organising assembly, Owen Jones and Samir Dathi made it clear that the Stop Trump Coalition is as much about fighting the hateful and discriminatory policies of this Tory government as it is about fighting the presidency of Donald Trump. The truth is, the politics of Trump and May go hand in hand. And if we are opposed to one, we cannot be silent in the face of the other just because it is closer to home. In fact, that commands even more reason to stand up to it. Whatever they say, this government must be accountable to its citizens.
Attendees at We Rise
May 2017 7
General election and where next It’s one thing after another! We’re just getting used to Brexit and Trump and now we have a general election, and campaign plans have to change again. Here’s what the general election means for our work:
Campaigning in the general election There are restrictions on what we can do and say during a general election period and this binds local groups as much as the national organisation. However, there are many things we can – and should – do: • It’s perfectly legitimate to organise and take part in hustings or to ask candidates questions, in so far as parties are treated the same. A postcard included with this issue of Think Global might help with this. • Under the Lobbying Act, so-called ‘restricted’ activity is activity which attempts to influence the general public to vote one way or another. But even this is legally OK up to a certain level of spending, at which point you need to register. On a local level, it’s pretty much impossible that groups would breach the spending limit. Check with the office if you’re worried. • Global Justice Now is a non-party political organisation, so we don’t support or endorse any one party, and try to be particularly careful around an election. This doesn’t necessarily bind local groups, but we’d ask you to be mindful of communications and campaigns in this area during an election. We can give more guidance if you need it. • Obviously, as an individual or as a group operating without explicit reference to Global Justice Now, you’re free to do what you want.
Which campaigns are most relevant during the election? Migration will continue to be a big issue. We 8 May 2017
expect the tabloids to outdo themselves during the next six weeks, so calling out their behaviour and putting pressure on M&S is welcome and easy. Trade is unlikely to be a huge issue in itself, but it’s a good opportunity to make candidates aware of the total lack of democracy around trade deals and get some verbal commitments to tackle this. We’ve chosen to ask a question on our election card about ‘how would you protect the NHS from a Trump trade deal’ because it’s a way of pushing wider trade issues into the debate (we hope). Brexit will be a huge issue obviously. We’ve started working on the Great Repeal Bill and the impact it could have on rights and standards – a leaflet on that is included in this issue of Think Global. But more generally, this is an election about what sort of a country we want to be and what we want our role in the world to be. We could use the Brexit debate to paint a clear picture of what sort of society we want – and what we don’t. To help do this groups could use the Doorstep Challenge leaflet beyond the doorstep - to engage people, write letters to local papers, or bringing the issues up at hustings. We’ve also included a question on the postcard on energy democracy. It’s not a major campaign, but it’s a clear and easy thing candidates can support.
After the election
The election could potentially have a huge impact on our campaigns and how we relate to parliament. We’ll analyse the situation soon afterwards. Our national gathering in Bristol happens only two days after the election date – it will be a first opportunity to come together and discuss. We encourage you to come to Bristol if you can make it.
National gathering opportunity for members to give further, more detailed feedback on the campaign consultation as well as generating discussion topics themselves. This will be similar to the ‘open space’ format we trialled at last year’s national gathering, though with a more limited number of topics in total.
1.15pm: Lunch A decent lunch will be available at the venue with a suggested contribution of £5. Flyers for our national gathering
Registration is now open for our national gathering in Bristol on Saturday 10 June. If you’re coming, please book your place in advance, not least so we can work out numbers for lunch:
globaljustice.org.uk/trumpism
Our national gathering now falls two days after the general election - we will probably all be needing a space to talk to like-minded people about what to do next! It is also being co-hosted by Global Justice Bristol, a group who have had some fantastic events and actions recently - we’ll be trying to get some skill sharing going. Here’s the current plan for the day (which may be subject to change):
9.45am: Registration, tea and coffee 10.15am: Annual General Meeting In addition to normal business, we will be dealing with the implications of having a youth network. A motion from Global Justice Manchester seeks to ensure the youth network is represented on council, while council itself is proposing to introduce a youth membership rate.
Approx 11.45am: Members’ forum Outside the formal AGM we will have an
2pm: PUBLIC CONFERENCE STARTS Trumpism beyond Trump We’ll start with a panel and discussion on the global rise of authoritarian and nationalist populism from France to the Philippines with our own Dorothy Guerrero, Amelie Canone of Attac France and Wail Qasim of Black Lives Matter UK.
3.30pm: Break 3.45pm: Workshops Choose from: • What’s wrong with Big Pharma? • Building solidarity with migrants • Trading with Trump? Where next for trade justice campaigning • Tips for keeping your group dynamic
4.45pm: Where now after the election? Join our own director Nick Dearden and War on Want’s new director Asad Rehman to discuss the aftermath of the election and strategy for global justice campaigners and progressives over the next year.
Venue and getting there
The national gathering is being held at Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3QY. Stokes Croft is at the heart of Bristol’s progressive life and alternative culture. It is about 25 minutes walk from Bristol Temple Meads station or you can catch a number 8 bus. May 2017 9
Groups and activism news M&S actions
A number of groups have participated in the M&S campaign. Global Justice York, part of the youth network, organised a demonstration outside their local M&S store and took action inside the store as well. Global Justice Nottingham were outside M&S on the Saturday before Easter asking the public to support the campaign to get M&S to stop advertising in the Daily Mail. Global Justice Nottingham outside M&S
Lots of people took leaflets and some even volunteered to be mischievous as part of the campaign. The London youth network group organised multiple actions in stores on the same day in April and similar actions have also been taken by Global Justice Manchester, Cambridge, Brighton and Bristol. Global Justice Leicester have also written to M&S about its advertising in the Daily Mail.
Wider migration solidarity
On the day that Trump’s revised ‘Muslim ban’ was due to come into force, Global Justice Bexhill and Hastings and Global Justice Bradford both visited their local Muslim community to show solidarity. York youth group sets up tent outside M&S
Global Justice Worthing sent a solidarity letter and Global Justice Cambridge are planning a solidarity visit to a mosque soon. Global Justice Leicester have been working towards an event for Refugee Week in June. Global Justice Reading organised a discussion event on migration policy and Global Justice Oxford organised a wellattended screening of Precarious Trajectories followed by a discussion around the issues with Simon Parker, the film’s director. Global Justice Brighton, Bristol and Macclesfield all organised Hope Not Hate training sessions.
Global Justice Bradford on Twitter
10 May 2017
Food sovereignty campaigning Global Justice Leicester are organising a further display of the Monsanto exhibition, this time in a Bangladeshi community centre. Global Justice Bexhill and Hastings organised an action in solidarity with small scale farmers, using the recent action card and leaflet. Global Justice Portsmouth is working with local allies to hold a stall about small-scale farmers at a local fair in May. The Leeds youth group have been working with out policy officer Jean Blaylock to organise a discussion on food sovereignty at a local campaigning event.
Pharmaceuticals campaign – book a speaker! As part of our work on corporate power, we’re working up a campaign on access to affordable medicine. You can read a short summary of the work in the campaign consultation papers. If your group would like to know more about the campaign then Morten and Heidi, who are currently working on the campaign, can come and talk to your group about the issue. It’s a chance to hear more about the problems with corporate power in the pharmaceutical industry and what can be done about it – and a chance for us to hear your ideas and views on this campaign area. Book a speaker via 020 7820 4900 or morten.thaysen@globaljustice.org.uk.
Bexhill and Hastings drum up support for small scale farmers
Participants at We Rise discuss next steps. See page 7 for fuller write up
May 2017 11
Current materials
• LEAFLET: Repowering the future: Municipal energy in practice • BRIEFING: Towards a just energy system
Trade
• **NEW BRIEFING: Trading with Trump • LEAFLET/POSTER: If you lIked TTIP you’ll love CETA • BRIEFING: CETA: TTIP’s little brother • BRIEFING: Five reasons TTIP and CETA are a disaster for the climate. • REPORT: TTIP and tax justice • BRIEFING: Regulatory Cooperation
Migration • • • • •
LEAFLET: M&S stop funding hate ACTION SLIP: M&S stop funding hate POSTER: M&S stop funding hate LEAFLET/POSTER: This is not a migrant crisis BRIEFING: Migrant crisis or poverty crisis?
Exploring alternatives booklets
• BOOKLET: Another Economy is Possible economic democracy • BOOKLET: Seeds of Change - food sovereignty • BOOKLET: Rays of Hope - energy justice
General materials
• **NEW LEAFLET: Stop Trump coalition • ‘HOW TO’ GUIDES: Guides to various aspects of activism • SIGN-UP SHEET: Double-sided, Global Justice Now branded
Included in this issue of Think Global are some general leaflets produced by the Stop Trump Coalition, which Global Justice Now is part of. The leaflet is designed to be given out to the general public. It outlines the reasons to oppose Trump and things you can do to build the opposition to Trump’s state visit to the UK, which we currently expect to be in October. You can distribute this leaflet at relevant events, on street stalls and among friends. Stop Trump has a temporary coordinator, Samir Dathi, who is based at the Global Justice Now office but working for the entire coalition.
Resist You can TRUMPING contact Turnin g him on the po the tide on litics o f hate 020 7820 4900 or info@stoptrump.org.uk if you want more leaflets.
son
Energy justice
Stop Trump leaflet
are Hick
• ACTION CARD: Time to fight for small farmers’ rights • BOOKLET: Farmers under fire • BRIEFING: Post-Brexit alternatives to the Common Agricultural Policy • BRIEFING: Growing evidence against the New Alliance • BOOKLET: On Solid Ground (agroecology) • REPORT: From The Roots Up (agroecology) • BRIEFING: Problems with corporate controlled seeds
© Alisd
Food sovereignty
If you want to organise a discussion or event relating to Stop Trump, Samir can also help with publicity and possible speakers. Finally, make sure to follow Stop Trump on social media – on Facebook @ StopTrumpUK and Twitter @UKStopTrump.
• STICKERS and BADGES • LEAFLET: ‘There is No Alternative’ membership leaflet • POSTER: Trumped up world • MAGAZINE: Latest issue of Ninety-Nine