Ninety-Nine magazine - February 2023

Challenging the power of the

Issue 25 - February 2023

Monopoly capitalism

Extreme corporate power on a planet in crisis

Also in this issue What big oil owes the world Resisting the tech giants Posters of the Mozambican Revolution

ISSUE 25: February 2023 03 Campaign news 06 Global news 08 The problem with monopoly capitalism 11 Global Justice Now supporters 12 Digital colonisation 14 What big oil owes the world 16 Posters of the Mozambican Revolution 19 Reviews

Ninety-Nine is published three times a year by Global Justice Now Global Justice Now campaigns for a world where resources are controlled by the many, not the few.

We champion social movements and propose democratic alternatives to the rule of the 1%. Our activists and groups in towns and cities around the UK work in solidarity with those at the sharp end of poverty and injustice.

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We must confront extreme corporate power Nick Deardon Director Challenging the excessive power of corporations has always been central to Global Justice Now. In fact, the history of the modern corporation goes back several hundred years, its origins associated with the plunder and brutality of empire. Today, in the age of the modern global economy, ever more powerful corporations have again become the central vehicle for extraction and exploitation.

Of course, there’s a particular problem when corporations are allowed to control the basics we all need to live a dignified life – products like food and medicines – as Niall Glynn explains on page 8. There’s a problem when corporations are able to knowingly pollute the planet and destroy the environment, leaving others to pay for the cost of these actions in their lives and livelihoods, as Daniel Willis writes on page 14. And there’s a problem when corporations can monopolise technologies central to public debate and discussion, to our working and social lives, as Parminder Jeet Singh explains on page 12.

But this isn’t simply a Today, in the age problem of a small handful of the modern of big businesses behaving badly in specific sectors. global economy, Corporate power now defines our economic ever more powerful model, strengthened and corporations have protected by the rules of the global economy. Under again become the such a regime, really extreme central vehicle inequality is not a side note, it’s integral to how the for extraction and economy works. And it poses exploitation. more general threats to our democratic rights too. As US anti-monopoly campaigner Zephyr Teachout says, when private interests are allowed to use public power for their own private and selfish ends, this doesn’t simply encourage corruption, it is corruption.

We believe such an economy can accurately be described as monopoly capitalism. We hope that this label can help mobilise people from across society not only in the important but specific battles against ‘big pharma’ or ‘big agriculture’, in which we’ve been engaged in for many years, but in challenging an economic model which encourages corporate power. Only then, can we build a more equal, democratic and sustainable society.

CAMPAIGN NEWS

Breakthrough on loss and damage fund at COP27 The COP27 climate conference in Egypt in November ended with an historic agreement to set up a new loss and damage fund to compensate lower income countries for climate impacts. This was a big win for the global south that has been 30 years in the making and, while the talks didn’t produce significant steps forward on curbing fossil fuels, does show that when the climate justice movement is united, we can win.

A transitional committee, made up of 10 representatives of rich countries and 14 representatives of countries in the global south, now has until the end of March to begin the process of deciding how the fund will operate.

There are sure to be many tough political battles ahead, on which countries should pay in and receive money from the fund, and how much finance is needed, before the funding arrangements are confirmed – this is planned to be at COP28 in Dubai.

Civil society will need to monitor this process carefully to ensure that rich countries follow through on the agreement made in Sharm el Sheikh last year.

Meanwhile, plans are already in progress to ensure the UK makes a significant commitment to the loss and damage fund and that the government funds this by taxing big polluters in the fossil fuel industry.

Global Justice Now research published during COP27 argued that the Big 5 oil companies, which reported over $170 billion of profit in 2022 alone, could owe as much as $8 trillion to the global south because of the damage caused by their historic carbon emissions. We want the government to tax these climate criminals and to use some of the funds raised to provide climate compensation to the global south.

Take action at: globaljustice.org.uk/ loss-and-damage Above: Global Justice Now joined campaigners from around the world in Sharm el Sheikh to demand polluters pay for climate loss and damage.

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© David Mirzoeff

CAMPAIGN NEWS

With countries across Europe quitting the Energy Charter Treaty, it’s vital to keep up the pressure on the UK to join the exodus.

Energy Charter Treaty on its last legs The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is crumbling – we’re winning! For the past two years, Global Justice Now has been campaigning with allies all across Europe on this controversial ‘corporate court’ treaty between fifty countries. It is being used by fossil fuel companies to sue governments over things like phasing out coal power and banning fracking. Together we’ve been calling for countries to exit the ECT. At times it has felt like the campaign was stuck – that inertia would win out.

But as the clock ticked down to a final decision in November on whether members of the ECT would accept a plan to allow fossil fuel companies to continue to sue for ten more years, 4 Ninety-Nine 2023

the pressure finally paid off – the dam burst and a cascade of countries announced they’re leaving.

So far Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Slovenia and Luxembourg have all declared they are withdrawing from the ECT, with many openly saying the treaty is incompatible with climate goals.

It’s an amazing success for all the campaigners and activists who’ve been pushing for this all across Europe.

Together we’ve made a little-known trade agreement and its secretive tribunals so toxic that countries are tripping over themselves to get out of the door.

But you will of course note that the UK is not in that list of countries – yet!

The government is giving itself space to potentially change course, though, saying it is “closely monitoring” what other countries are doing and taking that into account in its plans.

We’re redoubling our efforts, including talking to government insiders who may be able to persuade ministers that the ECT is not worth defending. If we can keep up the momentum, there’s a good chance the UK will join the exodus from the ECT in 2023.

Take action at: globaljustice.org.uk/ect

CAMPAIGN NEWS

Urgent call to stop Sunak’s dangerous banking bill Global Justice Now has been leading efforts to sound the alarm about prime minister Rishi Sunak’s dangerous plan for a second ‘big bang’ in the City of London – the mass financial deregulation which laid the ground for the 2008 banking crash. The Financial Services and Markets Bill was tabled by the then chancellor last summer, continued under Liz Truss’s illfated premiership and ultimately passed through the House of Commons in December.

Campaigners now face a battle to block or amend the bill in the House of Lords.

More than 30,000 have signed our petition against the bill’s efforts to strip back the limited measures introduced after the financial crisis to prevent the worst excesses of City speculators. From removing the cap on bankers’ bonuses to scrapping the restrictions on food speculation won by our campaigning in the early 2010s, the plan contains a litany of measures which encourage risk-taking among Sunak’s former colleagues in the banking industry at the expense of wider society.

Take action at: globaljustice.org.uk/sunak-banks

© La ure n Hu

rley/No 10 Do

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Right: Ex-Goldman Sachs banker Rishi Sunak is pushing the interests of his former industry as prime minister.

UK attacks affordable medicines in India trade talks In November, leaked trade documents revealed efforts by UK ministers to impose a list of big pharma demands on India in talks over a trade deal. This includes pressure to extend patent monopolies and stopping civil society from having a say about new patent applications.

All this could seriously undermine India’s medicines industry, which is currently the world’s biggest producer of cheaper, generic medicines. Famously, Indian generics brought the price of key HIV medication down by 99%. The NHS also relies heavily on medicines made in India, where

intellectual property laws are much more balanced, making sure health needs are considered alongside pharma profits.

Global Justice Now has teamed up with Indian health groups, UK medics and supportive MPs to demand the government drops these dangerous demands. The trade secretary has responded with vague denials, but as long as the government continues to negotiate behind a veil of secrecy, we’ll be keeping the pressure on.

Take action at: globaljustice.org.uk/uk-india-deal

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GLOBAL NEWS MOVEMENT NEWS

Indian workers join global day of action to Make Amazon Pay

© Kabir Jhangiani/ZUMA Press Wire/ Alamy Stock Photo

Amazon warehouse workers along with other workers shout slogans at a demonstration in New Delhi in November.

Amazon workers across India took part in protests on Black Friday in November as part of a global day of action organised by Make Amazon Pay, a coalition of 80 trade unions, civil society organisations and environmentalists. They are calling for the company to pay its workers fairly, respect their right to join unions, pay its fair share of taxes and commit to real environmental sustainability.

“It was similar to working at a sweatshop… 10-hour long shifts, low wages, insufficient breaks, and leave,” said a former employee at Amazon’s packing warehouse near Manesar, Haryana. Protests took place in Delhi, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and West Bengal. They were among actions in dozens of countries.

Dharmendra Kumar, one of the organisers and co-convenor of the Joint Action Committee against Foreign Retail and E-commerce, said, “Amazon is lowering working standards across the board in India.

It is based on a business model which is ecologically disastrous and economically unviable.”

Guatemalans vow to resist US mine despite $400m corporate court claim Communities living near the site of a gold mine north of Guatemala City have vowed to continue resisting the project, after Nevada-based mining firm Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA) filed a $400 million claim against the Guatemalan government at the World Bank’s investor-state dispute settlement tribunal.

For more than a decade, community

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groups have maintained a roundthe-clock protest camp in front of the road to the mine site, while presenting evidence of how it would lead to water depletion and contamination. The mine was suspended by Guatemalan courts in 2015 over a failure to adequately consult with communities.

KCA hopes the corporate court claim will force the Guatemalan government

to unblock the project – or pay out on its expected profits.

“What’s needed is a different economic model — one that prioritises clean water and soil, healthy communities, peace, dignity, and selfdetermination,” said Ana Sandoval of Peaceful Resistance La Puya, one of the groups resisting the mine.

GLOBAL MOVEMENT GLOBAL NEWS

NEWS SHORTS UAE oil chief urged to quit as COP28 chair Climate campaigners have condemned the appointment of the UAE state oil company’s CEO as chair of COP28 climate talks in Dubai in November, calling on him to step down.

Memory Kachambwa of the African Women Development & Communication Network called the appointment “an insult to the collective wisdom of everyone committed to addressing the climate crisis.”.

French 'insurrection' over attack on pension age

Charges against migrant support workers annulled in Greece A court on the Greek island of Lesbos has rejected several charges against a group of volunteer human rights defenders who took part in migrant rescue operations.

The group of 24 people – seven Greek and 17 foreign nationals – faced charges including espionage, forgery and unlawful use of radio frequencies. They argue they were simply helping people whose lives were at risk. “Trials like this are deeply concerning because they criminalise life-saving work and set a dangerous precedent,” the UN Human

Rights Office said before the hearing.

The court accepted procedural objections by defence lawyers including that documents had not been translated for the foreign defendants. “It is a step, it is the first recognition that there were many legal mistakes that violated the essence of a fair trial,” said defence lawyer Cleo Papapantoleon. “We expect the same to happen with the investigation into the felonies, for which there is also no evidence.”

Indigenous peoples lead popular uprising across Peru

An estimated two million people took to the streets of France in January to oppose efforts to raise the retirement age by two years to 64. Transport, schools and the energy sector were all heavily affected by the second day of industrial action, as 250 protests against the changes took place across the country.

MST pledges to keep up fight under President Lula The Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST) has pledged to continue mobilising to help President Lula deliver on his agenda, following the defeat of Jair Bolsonaro in October’s elections and the failed coup attempt in January by his supporters.

“We know that without popular mobilisation there will be no real change in the country”, it said.

© Alessandro Cinque/Reuters/Alamy

An anti-government protest in Lima on 2 February, part of a wave of protests which have lasted two months.

Weeks of mass protests led by Indigenous peoples have been taking place across Peru since the removal and arrest of President Pedro Castillo in December.

Protesters demanding fresh elections and a new constitution have been met with violent repression by the caretaker government of Dina Boluarte, with more than 50 people killed in the rural south.

Large parts of the country have been brought to a standstill by the protests and roadblocks since Castillo’s removal,

which reflect deep-rooted inequalities between the majority rural, Indigenous communities from the south of the country and the social and political elite based in the capital, Lima. Despite the repression, tens of thousands have travelled to Lima for a new wave of protests which include demands for justice for those killed.

“We have been humiliated and forgotten,” said Dina Quispe from the community of Checyuyoc. “They are killing our brothers with bullets.”

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CORPORATE POWER

The problem with monopoly capitalism From the medicines we need to the food we eat, the concentration of economic power among a handful of big companies is at the heart of global injustice. It’s time to fight back, writes NIALL GLYNN. What do baby milk formula, an Epipen, and the Google search engine all have in common? Although seemingly unconnected, they are all produced by highly concentrated industries. In the US, nearly 100% of baby milk formula consumed comes from three companies: Abbott, Gerber and Reckitt (Abbott alone accounts for 40%). Just one pharmaceutical company holds approximately 90% of the Epipen market, allowing it to more than quadruple its prices over the course of a decade. The technology giant Google has a share of around 84% of the global search engine market. This is monopoly capitalism.

Throughout capitalism's relatively brief history, large corporations have always held a dominant position in the global economy. They’ve used their central position to fix the rules of the game in their favour. One of the earliest transnational corporations was the Dutch East India Company (VOC), which operated from present-day Indonesia and had a monopoly over many spices and textiles in the 17th century. It is estimated that if the VOC were around today, it would be worth $7.9 trillion – more than Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet and 17 of the other top-valued corporations of today combined.

While the early corporations were

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deeply entwined with colonial plunder, the tendency towards concentration of wealth and resources survived the end of formal empires. Over the past century, the concentration of industries has become widespread across the global economy, with the United States leading the way. Since the 1930s, the share of the US economy dominated by the top 1% of companies by total assets has increased from 70% to 97%. The share of the top 0.1% of companies is even more stark, rising from 47% to 88%. By sales, the top 1% today account for 80% of revenues generated, compared to 60% in 1969. Similar trends are visible in the UK, Europe and further afield.

Whichever way you want to slice it, the facts are clear: this is a problem that is only growing.

And we can see the consequences through two global industries which are significant in our lives: food and pharmaceuticals.

BIG AGRICULTURE BLOSSOMS In a short time, the global food industry has become dominated by a handful of multi-billion dollar companies. As of 2018, the seed market was run by the ‘Big Six’ of Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, BASF, DuPont and Dow Chemical, which controlled 63% of the world’s commercial seeds and 75% of global agrochemicals. Megamergers have

CORPORATE POWER meant even more concentration. The Bayer pharmaceutical companies keeping the prices of drugs artificially high in order to and Monsanto $63 billion deal turned the reap huge profits. In 1958, a US government Big Six into the Big Five. The megamerger of report on the antibiotics industry found Sinochem and ChemChina in 2021 led to that a handful of companies had cornered the creation of the third-largest seed firm the market to keep the price of the and the largest chemical conglomerate in antibiotic tetracycline high. The production the world. of post-penicillin antibiotics was highly This has real consequences for the food concentrated, with Pfizer and American we eat. It is estimated that around 75% of Cyanamid controlling plant genetic diversity 50% of total antibiotics has been lost since production. the 1990s as farmers All too often, In recent decades, worldwide have been governments in this problem has been forced into cultivating accelerating. Since genetically similar highthe global north the 1980s, global yielding crops. Around fail to see the biotechnology and three-quarters of the pharmaceutical mergers food we consume now concentration of and acquisitions have comes from only twelve plants and five animal economic power as steadily increased in number and value. species. Heavily relying a problem.

Between 1995 and 2015, on a handful of food 60 pharmaceutical crop varieties will be companies merged into ten in the United dangerous for our and our planet's survival.

States.

One crop disease, as seen across Europe in The increasing concentration in the the 1840s in potatoes, or extreme weather event, could wipe out food for many millions pharmaceutical industry means a smaller number of firms can control prices for often of people. essential drugs. We have all experienced Coupled with large corporations' seed how Pfizer and Moderna jacked up the control and ownership, there is another prices for Covid-19 vaccines in the midst aspect of global food trade: agricultural of the devastating pandemic. But this traders. The largest agricultural traders, practice is long-standing across the collectively known as ABCD, control 75% industry. Just three pharmaceutical giants, to 90% of all international grain trade.

Sanofi, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lily, own the US Commodity trading houses understand the patents to manufacture insulin and were benefits of being one of a few dominant firms. From 1990 to 2019, these trading houses able to raise their prices by 168%, 169% and 325%, respectively, in the early 2010s. With have increasingly been acquiring those few alternatives to these big pharma giants, around them – the ABCD group accounted even wealthy governments cannot prevent for 63% of acquisitions amongst the top ten them from dictating terms and prices. commodity trading houses. Cargill alone accounts for 30%. Of these acquisitions, FIGHTING BACK 42% happened from 2010 to 2019. It is no All too often, governments in the global coincidence that commodity markets – north fail to see the concentration of which dictate the incomes of hundreds of economic power as a problem. While there millions of people across the global south – are cases of mergers being scrutinised have become more volatile in this period. by anti-trust bodies, the number of times VACCINES AND PATENTS they are blocked is a drop in the ocean.

Monopoly capitalism is the norm, and It’s a similar story in the pharmaceutical anything good for big business is seen to be industry. There is a long tradition of

Back: The fleet of the Dutch East Indian Company, one of the world's first transnational corporations, returns from Batavia (present-day Jakarta) in 1648. © Peter Horree/ Alamy Stock Photo

Inset: Demanding food sovereignty at a Global Justice London protest in 2015. © Jess Hurd/reportdigital.co.uk

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CORPORATE POWER

good for society. We know this is not the case.

But these corporate monopolies are at the heart of so many injustices in the global economy. As we have seen, they directly harm the way we produce and consume the basics of life – from the destabilising of small farming communities through big agriculture to enabling hikes in the price of medicines to excruciating levels. Here, we’re essentially letting private interests make decisions which should rightly be made only by workers, communities and democratic governments.

Monopolies also contribute to wage inequality as those at the top of corporations decide to pay their workers as little as possible to keep their costs low as workers have few alternatives. At the same time, monopolies make our economies more fragile – just look at how consolidated global supply chains led to disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic, with fewer points of failure, making the system less resilient.

Corporate monopolies are also a barrier to solving enormous environmental problems like climate change. Big oil companies donate millions to politicians to maintain the status quo, they have funded think tanks that publish anti-climate change propaganda and have used their power to delay the development of renewable alternatives.

To fight back against monopoly capitalism, we need to promote two key ideas: economic democracy and collective ownership.

Economic democracy is needed so communities and workers can take control of their own economic livelihoods. People need more influence over the resources available to them and the decision-making processes that affect their lives - determining the what, where, how and why of extraction, production, distribution and consumption in a democratic manner.

We must also reverse the decades-long privatisation trend of more and more of the public realm worldwide. Instead, we must re-make the case for collective ownership of the essentials of our society – from resources and land to housing, education, institutions, finance, economic planning, public utilities, infrastructure, governance bodies, and visions of the future. An ownership that is climate-focused, nonextractive and internationalist at its core, and where resources, wealth and power aren't concentrated in the hands of a few.

Monopoly capitalism will be a vampire that keeps on draining us all if we allow it. Let us take back what is rightfully ours.

Niall Glynn is an economist, researcher and founder of The Working Class Economists Group.

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Protesters demand access to affordable insulin outside the offices of US pharma giant Eli Lilly in New York in 2019.

Left: xxx US/Alamy Stock Photo © Sipa

Global Justice Now Supporters

Events

Join one of our two national events in the coming months

25 March

Resisting Monopoly Capitalism

On Saturday 25 March at SOAS in London we’ll be holding what we hope will be a significant activist conference on extreme corporate power on a planet in crisis. Multinational corporations have grown wealthy by monopolising the resources we need to live a dignified life. These leviathans set the rules of the game, triggering a race to the bottom in terms of workers’ rights and environmental protection. But the movement against monopolies is growing, and we’ll be joined by speakers at the forefront of this fight, including: Parminder Jeet Singh, IT for Change, India Julia Kosgei, People’s Vaccine Alliance, Kenya Aurélie Trouvé, French MP, parliamentary chair of NUPES Michelle Meagher, Balanced Economy Project Anthony Barnett, founder, Open Democracy Nicholas Shaxson, author, Treasure Islands and more to be announced Join us to discuss what monopoly capitalism is and look at the problems it poses to our food system, medicine production and communications, as well its implications for war and climate change. And importantly, we’ll talk about how we bring these corporations to heel.

Book your place at: globaljustice.org.uk/monopolies

3 June Global Justice Now's AGM Global Justice Now members should have received a notice about our annual general meeting with this issue of Ninety-Nine. We’re holding the AGM on Saturday 3 June this year, but returning to running it online. This might not be a permanent change, but there has been demand from members to access the AGM online,

and it certainly makes this important part of our governance more accessible to those who can’t travel. It also allows us more flexibility with the structure and timing of our annual conference and other events.

More information is available at: globaljustice.org.uk/agm-2023

CORPORATE POWER

Big tech monopolies are a form of digital colonisation The digital economy presents unique challenges for the movement against extreme corporate power. It must be understood to be resisted, says PARMINDER JEET SINGH. As apps like Uber and Amazon spread around the world, the corporations behind them want us to see it as good for everyone – more developing countries are getting access to these platforms, and it doesn't matter who provides them. But at the core of the digital economy is a fundamental problem of data monopoly that is not well understood. Just last year the chief of the IMF – who doesn't

normally make radical statements – said that we are heading towards a digital Berlin Wall.

The changes brought in by the digital economy are comparable to the start of the Industrial Revolution and the invention of machines. This was not just a technical or economic shift, but a social, cultural and political shift as well. For the first time the physical power which had earlier been

The power of digital giants like Amazon comes from their monopoly over data.

© Mark Dixon/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

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CORPORATE POWER

This process of digital colonisation is owning organisations which until a global challenge we all face. One recently have been at the top of of the most important steps to address global value chains. it is to have data infrastructure as In the age of digital transformation, public infrastructure. Some of the the new value chain involves data biggest work being done on this is produced in developing countries and collected by platforms which are surprisingly in Europe, because this is the first time majorly-owned that Europe is by big tech 90% of the top actually no better companies in the off than say India US and China. digital platforms or Indonesia – The product in the world although they call it of intelligence a ‘data sovereignty’ resides inside are owned issue (and not servers and in the US and colonisation). India is controlled also has had a by these China, a greater committee report companies. concentration of on a non-personal UNCTAD statistics data framework, show that 90% wealth than we of which I was a of the ownership have ever seen. member, which of the top 70 recommended platforms in the mandatory sharing of important data world is divided between big tech by platforms with start-ups, public companies based in the US and agencies and researchers. Just like China. This is a greater concentration in the Industrial Age, when roads, of wealth and power than we have ports and bridges were common ever seen. to everybody, certain kinds of data DIGITAL COLONISATION could then be used by everybody What this is leading to is a form equally within the country. of digital colonisation. Industrial Ultimately what is needed is a colonisation consisted of a chain digital industrial policy, which directly of economic activities where raw addresses the excesses of data DATA AS A RAW MATERIAL materials were produced in the and digital corporations by giving colonies, which were forced to remain preference to domestic industries It is often said that data is the most valuable asset in the digital economy as producers of raw materials for – insulating industries and helping industrialised countries, from where – but I can give you truckloads of infant industries, as an industrial data, and you're not going to be able the finished products were then sold policy framework should do. Europe to all, including to the colonies. The to do anything with it. Data is a raw is bringing in a barrage of laws in this digital version of this dependency material which provides intelligence direction, but it is still shy of directly is happening today. And once we about the subjects of data. And naming the problem – because of therefore, the real asset is intelligence, get dependent on what is called its ideological attachment to the ‘outsourced intelligence’, that whereby these digital platform free market. But the problem of who companies can be called intelligence dependency is acute. Because provides these digital platforms and unlike if you stop being able to import corporations. The corporations that how is one that collectively we must Mercedes cars, the data that has are at the top of the value chain address. been collected about you over many today are those corporations which Parminder Jeet Singh is the executive director of IT for Change in India. This is an edited extract years is not easily replaceable with own the intelligence of a sector. of a talk give to an Asia-Europe People’s Forum domestic alternatives.

In many ways, these corporations webinar in October, available at aepf.info. supersede the intellectual propertyprovided by human beings or animals was embodied into a machine, and a whole 300 years of the Industrial Age was the result.

What is happening today in the digital economy is that for the first time, systemic intelligence has been disembodied from human beings into machines. Not just the intelligence we know in a computer, which is a kind of recorded or reflected intelligence, always to be acted upon by human beings, but a somewhat autonomous systemic intelligence. Intelligent machines are able to run whole sectors, activities and actors almost autonomously.

Uber famously doesn’t own any cars – instead, its platform is like a brain which is functioning and nobody is actually taking those decisions, human beings are largely out of it. Of course, management decisions and incentives to the system are set by human beings, but once the incentives are fed in, it’s an autonomous system.

Amazon is a similar kind of brain, orchestrating logistics providers, traders, manufacturers, suppliers, payment providers. Like a brain does to the body it is able to control and orchestrate everything in one go..

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CLIMATE

What big oil owes the world After the breakthrough on loss and damage at COP27, we must demand that big polluting corporations pay for what they've done, writes DANIEL WILLIS. The agreement made at COP27 in It has hardly been a winter of discontent for the fossil fuel industry or for the shareholders Sharm el Sheikh last November (see page 3) was an attempt to begin rectifying this. of its biggest corporations. In 2022, the Big Negotiators from the global south have 5 oil companies reported more than $170 long argued that rich, polluting countries billion in profits, reaping huge rewards from their stranglehold over our economies while owe climate compensation to those facing the worst impacts, creating hardship and finally their for millions who have demands were (at had to struggle with The big 5 oil least partly) met, with enormous energy companies have cost the agreement to bills. At the same time establish a new ‘loss these companies the global south an and damage’ fund by have made a huge estimated $8 trillion of this year’s COP28. contribution to Many of the details climate change climate damage. and mechanisms to through their historic make this fund work and ongoing carbonin practice are yet to be established, so we emitting activities. don’t know exactly how big a win it is yet – Countries across the global south, that is to be decided in the coming months. meanwhile, are picking up the bill But the biggest question raised by the loss for this wanton destruction. Last year, and damage fund is: who should pay for it?

Pakistan faced an estimated $30 billion reconstruction bill after devastating floods.

Yet Pakistan has generated less than half a POLLUTERS MUST PAY percent of global historic emissions. BP and Many governments across the global north Shell have contributed more than 2%, each. are already tightening public expenditure after significant spending to ease the Where is the justice in letting those who impacts of Covid-19 and the current energy have caused the crisis off scot-free, while crisis. In this context, building public support leaving the countries least able to pay to for large financial transfers to the global pick up the tab? south, when the impact could be even The story is the same in Mozambique, further austerity and spending cuts here, is Bangladesh, in the small island states of the Pacific and Caribbean, and in the Horn a challenge.

This is where the big polluters come in. of Africa. People and communities who Corporations like the Big 5 (that is, Chevron, have done next to nothing to cause the climate crisis are facing the consequences ExxonMobil, BP, Shell and TotalEnergies) have got rich by ripping off households in of centuries of colonial extraction. While the UK and by denying their responsibility enabled by governments in rich countries for climate catastrophe in the global south. and their financiers, it’s the biggest fossil There is a clear and simple case for these fuel corporations which have carried out companies to be the ones which pay for this destruction.

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Right: Public pressure to demand fossil fuel companies pay for the pollution they’ve caused is essential in the cost of living crisis.

CLIMATE

climate compensation. As Bolivia’s former lead negotiator Pablo Solón says, “if you break it, you buy it”.

Global Justice Now research put out during COP27 established that the Big 5 have very much broken it.

Their historic emissions alone, which are more than 4 times as big as those of the 150 least emitting countries combined, have generated around $8 trillion in costs for the global south (for loss and damage, reducing carbon emissions and adaptation) that are currently going unmet.

That is why we are campaigning with allies to make polluters pay. A windfall tax on profits is a start, but we don’t want these companies to keep profiting from destruction. Our movement needs to develop new, innovative ideas on how we tax these climate criminals, and build public support and power to see them adopted by parliaments here and internationally.

We shouldn’t stop at taxing fossil fuel companies. We know that the fossil fuel industry is funded by the world’s biggest banks and financial

institutions. In 2020, investments made by the asset manager Blackrock generated more carbon emissions than the whole of France. Taxing financial institutions that bankroll planetary destruction could be another route to funding loss and damage.

We must also pay attention to the role of the super-rich in climate change. In Europe, the poorest 50% of the population emits around 5 tonnes per person per year, while the top 0.01% contribute a staggering 2,530

tonnes each. Climate justice within the global north means things like introducing significant taxes on highlypolluting luxury goods and on wealth, with the proceeds split between the UK’s loss and damage contribution and climate justice measures at home.

This may seem a distant prospect, but many of these ideas are already being discussed and accepted as common sense by some in Westminster. The government has already introduced an (insufficient) windfall tax on fossil fuel profits, and opposition parties are exploring ideas around wealth taxation.

And in response to the energy crisis, public opinion has rarely been so firmly set against profiteering corporations in the fossil fuel industry, or so willing to consider bold new proposals for how to achieve justice in the face of multiple crises. This is our opportunity to tax the climate criminals. 2023 must be the year when we make polluters pay.

Daniel Willis is the climate campaign manager at Global Justice Now.

© David Mirzoeff

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IN PICTURES

Our Sophisticated Weapon Posters of the Mozambican Revolution Late last year, SOAS and The Africa Centre held an exhibition of political posters produced during the early years of Mozambique’s independence. Words by POLLY SAVAGE and RICHARD GRAY. Having overthrown Portuguese rule in 1975, the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) looked to the arts for tools to build the new nation on ideals of socialism and internationalism. Working anonymously for the government’s new Department of Propaganda and Publicity, a team of artists including José Freire (1930-1998), João Craveirinha Jr (b 1947), and Manuel Ruas (b 1953) were tasked with creating and disseminating an image of the ‘new man’ through murals, print journals, and screen-printed posters. The result was a pivotal moment for graphic design in postcolonial Africa.

The exhibition brings together 25 of these posters.

They chart the primary aims of the post-revolutionary nation, as they sought to establish a new society of unity and resilience in the wake of colonial rule.

Campaigns included memorialisation of the heroes of the liberation struggle; declarations of solidarity with the socialist world and ongoing anti-colonial struggles; and directives for the future of culture, production, and women in the new society. Together, the posters offer a fascinating insight into Frelimo’s vision for a utopian future, pitched as their ultimate weapon in the ideological battles of the time.

Our Sophisticated Weapon was curated by Polly Savage and Richard Gray, and supported by SOAS. The full exhibition is available online at: alutacontinua.art.

The Africa Centre is at 66 Great Suffolk Street, London SE1: www.africacentre.org.uk All posters are copyright of the artists.

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José Freire

1975, 25th of June 1975, Independence of Mozambique Two-colour offset lithograph, DNPP, Maputo Issued to celebrate Mozambique’s independence day, this poster represents the revolution as a peaceful sunrise that allows peasants to work freely on the land, and a soldier, still holding his gun, to concentrate on studying rather than fighting. The lab flasks and cog wheel signal the promise of science, technology and universal medical care, and the jubilant crowd wave placards to declare ‘Long Live Frelimo’ and ‘The Struggle Continues’. José Freire was also responsible for designing the uniforms, banners and emblems for the independence ceremony, and for organising the street decorations in Maputo, the renamed capital city.

IN PICTURES

Uncredited

OMM 2nd Conference, Maputo. Mozambican woman: let us free ourselves by increasing knowledge in productive work, energising the class struggle, making the revolution.

Two-colour offset lithograph, DNPP Maputo The Organisation of Mozambican Women (OMM) was formed in 1973 as a non-military structure to promote women's education, emancipation and mobilisation during the struggle. After independence in 1975, the focus of the OMM shifted to issues of health, welfare and family planning.

João Craveirinha Jr

May 1st, Day of the Worker. May 1st was always and will continue to be a manifestation of the struggle of the working classes and their internationalist character Colour offset lithograph, DNPP, Maputo The red star of international socialism shines down on an idyllic Mozambican landscape, worked by labourers wielding hand tools and a woman driving a tractor, signalling a new dawn of equality, production and technology. João Craveirinha Jr worked as Frelimo’s graphic designer during the Armed Struggle, issuing posters, pamphlets and journals from the Front’s base in Tanzania.

Despite many years of commitment to the party, he ultimately found Frelimo’s cultural policies oppressive, and left Mozambique in 1983.

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IN PICTURES

José Freire

7 April 1979 / Mozambican women, let us consolidate our revolutionary conquests by participating in the increase of production and productivity by resolutely engaging in the defence of the country Three-colour offset lithograph, DNPP, Maputo The image shows women studying, producing and fighting. These were key activities for all Mozambican militants, exemplified by the women of Frelimo’s Destacamento Feminino (Women’s Detachment) during the Armed Struggle (1964-1974).

José Freire

25th June 1976, One Year of Independence / Generalised Political and Organisational Offensive on the Production Front Three-colour offset lithograph, DNPP, Maputo This poster marks the first anniversary of independence, a time when the need to restore economic productivity was Frelimo’s main priority. The sudden exodus of Portuguese settlers had caused a crisis of production and distribution, threatening food supplies and reducing valuable cashcrop exports. Frelimo responded by prioritising the organisation of communal villages, collective farms and cooperatives, invoking the social and economic model used in the Liberated Zones during the Armed Struggle.

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REVIEWS

Reviews THE SWIMMERS Sally El Hosaini, 2022 2h 14m

FARHA Darin J. Sallam, 2022 1h 32m Farha tells the story of Palestine in 1948, when Zionist forces took over the region, resulting in the Nakba (or ‘catastrophe'), the displacement of countless Palestinian families and the creation of the state of Israel. The film is an emotive, harrowing depiction of what took place during the Nakba with the focus on a 14-year-old girl, Farha, who as the violence begins has dreams of getting an education. It’s a powerful, heart-breaking true story written and directed by Jordanian filmmaker Darin Sallam, based on experiences recounted to her mother.

Based on a true story, The Swimmers follows two young sisters who make the perilous journey from war-torn Syria to Germany in pursuit of their Olympic dreams, and a future for their family.

The dramatic irony at the beginning is almost unbearable, as they dance joyfully in a Damascus club to La Roux’s Bulletproof, while bombs rain down in the distance. The scene emphasises how ‘normal’ everything was in Syria, until it wasn’t, and highlights the awful loss of the culture, community and spirit of a country due to war.

It is a devastating and yet uplifting tale of courage, heroism and unexpected friendship, as shared experi-

ence outweighs the vast differences between refugees. By focusing on Olympic athletes, the film arguably plays into ‘good migrant’ narratives.

However there’s no denying it’s a powerful and humanising representation of refugees and their resilience in the face of unimaginable traumas.

Daisy Pearson

AFRICA IS NOT A COUNTRY Dipo Faloyin Vintage, 2023 A really enjoyable argument for a greater understanding of Africa (I saw it in a bookshop cheekily placed next to another competing title: ‘It’s a Continent’). It cuts right into all the ways Africa is misrepresented in the west from the unintentionally hilarious lyrics of Feed the World, to Hollywood’s pseudo-African accents, to the loot of the Benin Empire literally lost in European museums, to Jamie Oliver’s foray into the jollof rice wars (an intervention that united diverse African nations with rival recipes in ferocious contempt).

The film is Jordan's pick for the Oscars this year but has faced a backlash from pro-Israel pressure groups claiming (incorrectly) that the film is not an accurate portrayal of what happened. Having a platform like Netflix host a film like Farha helps engage millions of people with this important history, which is too often Faloyin’s writing is really wonderful, suppressed. It's also an incredible film in and it’s pretty accessible to most readits own right. ers even when relating political moveFrances Leach

ments – from the effort to overthrow the Bouteflika regime in Algeria to protests against the notorious, thieving ‘anti-robbery’ police units in Nigeria – that may be new to western readers.

Veering from polemic to a determined defence of so much that’s good in Africa’s emerging cities, movements and culture, it’s an ultimately uplifting read.

Alex Higgins

RESISTING MONOPOLY CAPITALISM EXTREME CORPORATE POWER ON A PLANET IN CRISIS Saturday 25 March • 11am–6pm • SOAS, London An activist conference with: Aurélie Trouvé French MP, parliamentary chair of left bloc NUPES Julia Kosgei People’s Vaccine Alliance, Kenya Parminder Jeet Singh IT for Change, India Nicholas Shaxson Author, Treasure Islands and Finance Curse Anthony Barnett Founder, Open Democracy Michelle Meagher Balanced Economy Project Landless Workers’ Movement, Brazil