Groups and activism news

Global Justice Bradford held a climate walk in conjunction with Caildon and Shipley Friends of the Earth which attracted more than 200 people, all aimed at getting the local council to divest from fossil fuels and to go carbon neutral by 2030, instead of 2038.

Global Justice Leicester held a successful stall on ISDS and climate in Market Harborough for the Big Green Week, and another in conjunction with the Nottingham group. They attended both an eco-harvest festival and an interfaith event on climate change, and in July a group member organised a stall at the National Justice and Peace Network conference.

Global Justice Nottingham held a People’s Vaccine stall in July outside a vaccination centre, and distributed a lot of cards to people coming out (until they were moved on!). The group has been central to organising the Nottingham Hub of the COP26 Coalition, which is putting on a Nottingham protest on 6 November. Group members also held a fundraising/social barbecue.

Global Justice Reading held three stalls at various local events as well as a short action near the station on the ISDS/climate day of action. The group have also been lobbying both Reading MPs. Alok Sharma is President of COP26 so is hearing their views on issues such as aviation, expanding local airports and the Cambo Oil Field.

Global Justice Worthing are still meeting on zoom but did organise an ISDS stall in Worthing town centre, as well as a vaccines stall at a activism event attended by other organisations, handing out a lot of literature despite the loud music and competition!

Global Justice Rotherham held a good stall in the sun at the Rotherham Show, focussing on the vaccines campaign, and are mobilising for COP protests in Sheffield on 6 November. Global Justice Macclesfield got a photo and article in the local paper and online news about vaccine apartheid early in September and then repeated the trick for the day of action with a thunder maker and blue cloth photo op at the town hall!

Global Justice Cambridge had a good presence at the Cambridge Climate Fair and are busy in the Cambridge Hub for the COP protests. Global Justice Central London held successful People’s Vaccine stalls in Islington and Holborn.

For the climate/ISDS day of action, Global Justice Glasgow showed up with placards at the offices of Clyde & Co, a law firm which takes ISDS cases. Global Justice York campaigned outside a Shell garage and Global Justice Ayrshire ran a campaign stall in Irvine. Global Justice Bexhill and Hastings were out in both towns in their name for the day of action and had a good impact, while Global Justice Portsmouth ran a Climate Week display on corporate courts.

Non-GJN local groups also got involved in the day of action, including in Swansea, Hereford, Newcastle, Fife and Chesterfield.

As Think Global goes to press, the youth network is busy recruiting new students at freshers’ fairs around the UK. We have some follow up events planned to mobilise for the UN climate talks in November and hopefully form some new youth network groups too.

Global Justice Stirling, which is a youth network group, has been particularly active on climate, organising the Stirling Climate Festival which runs from 11 to 17 of October. There are some online-hybrid events, so it’s worth checking it out wherever you’re based: www.stirlingclimatefest.info. The youth network has also been planning for how it mobilises for the UN climate talks, whether by going to Glasgow or taking part in local protests and events across the country.

The youth network has also taken a leading role in the Stop TUI campaign. The high street holiday company have been running deportation flights for the government and the campaign aims to force them to pull out as British Airways did. TUI is certainly feeling the heat with eight street protests organised across the country on the day of action in August. The Leeds, Cambridge, Brighton, Manchester and Liverpool groups have been particularly involved in the campaign. and railed against Pfizer for holding Brazil “to ransom” over vaccine access in the Guardian.

We worked with the Guardian to expose the UK’s hoarding of 210 million excess doses, demanding they be released to the global south, and responded to the UK’s eventual vaccine donations with comments picked up by the Guardian, Mail Online, and the Independent.

Aid led the news when parliament voted to keep cuts to the international aid budget. Our campaigner Daniel Willis accused MPs who voted for the cuts of having “blood on their hands”, appearing in BBC News, BBC Radio 4 Today programme, the Independent, and the Guardian front page.

On trade, we slammed the secrecy of the UK’s new trade deal with Australia in the Daily Mirror, the National, and the Independent, while Nick wrote for the Guardian and Al Jazeera on why neoliberal trade deals are bad for the climate.

We co-signed a letter calling for the UK to exit the Energy Charter Treaty, with Jean Blaylock quoted in Politico and the Independent. Jean’s research revealing that five fossil fuel companies are suing governments for $18bn for enacting climate policies was the top story on Sky News and featured in the New Statesman and The Independent.

Elsewhere in climate, Dorothy Guerrero worked with the Guardian to expose the UK government’s failure to make COP26 accessible to global south civil society groups. Dorothy’s reaction to the “terrifying” IPCC report was picked by international outlets including the Australian, France 24, the Japan Times, RTE, and the International Business Times, while Daniel Willis spoke out to defend Extinction Rebellion’s targeting of banks in the City of London, featuring in City AM, LBC, and AFP.