Ninety Nine magazine - May 2016

Challenging the power of the 1%

Issue 05 - May 2016

Another Europe is possible Why we should stay in the EU and change it

Also in this issue Uruguay turns its back on toxic trade deal Monsanto faces opposition Art activism wins against oil sponsorship

ISSUE 05: May 2016 03 Campaign news 06 Global news 08 In or out, the problem with trade deals 10 What Brexit means for Global Justice Now 13 Your thoughts on Ninety-Nine 14 Fighting the lies around migration 16 Photo essay: a liberated Tate 18 Uruguay ditches toxic trade deal 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.

Ninety-Nine magazine, Global Justice Now 66 Offley Road, London SW9 0LS 020 7820 4900 • offleyroad@globaljustice.org.uk • globaljustice.org.uk Editors: Kevin Smith, Tom Walker Design: Matt Bonner www.revoltdesign.org Cover image: © Jess Hurd In April, Global Justice Now and Feral X projected ‘Refugees Welcome’ on the white cliffs of Dover just ahead of a far-right march that was taking place in Dover.

Printed on 100% recycled paper.

Get Ninety-Nine delivered to your door three times a year when you become a member of Global Justice Now. Go to globaljustice.org.uk/join

2 Ninety-Nine 2016

You have spoken on Europe Polly Jones Head of policy and campaigns There was a time when Europe was a distant, confusing and only sometimes relevant target for our campaigns on trade, debt and aid. But not any more. Increasingly, the role of the European Union is central to our campaigns – and our supporters have become experts on how to get the attention of their MEPs. Our campaigns to curb speculation on food and to stop trade deals, such as the ones between the EU and the USA (TTIP) and the EU and Canada (CETA), have exposed the worst examples of corporate influence over Brussels.

However with Britain’s EU referendum coming up in June, Global Justice Now’s members are not put off by a difficult challenge. With your usual tenacity, you have said loudly and clearly that Britain should stay in the EU to try and transform it into something much better: a just, equal and safe Europe for everyone.

In the same way that we have built a movement across Europe to defeat TTIP, we are committed to working with like-minded organisations to build a progressive Europe. This is neither quick nor simple, so it We’ve built a movement will suit our groups and supporters down to the across Europe to ground. This will be a defeat TTIP, and we’re priority for us if Britain votes to stay in the EU. committed to working If Britain chooses to with like-minded leave the EU, there will be no need to wind up organisations to build a our campaigns to stop progressive Europe.

TTIP or curb the control big agribusiness has over the food system. We will need to channel the full force of our campaigning towards the UK and devolved parliaments to stop them making the same mistakes as the EU. This would be easier if the UK government was not the ringleader for the issues we are resisting at an EU level.

If you have any doubts about our collective ability to challenge and change the system, look no further than the growing resistance to corporate power and privatisation in energy and water across Europe and the world. This wave of ‘remunicipalisation’, where privatised energy and water services are brought back under public control, is phenomenal. 100 million people now get their water from a remunicipalised water service, in 235 cities (including Paris and Dar es Salaam) across 37 countries.

This resistance to corporate power at a local level and the power of masses of people to bring about progressive change is what drives Global Justice Now – and what we depend on to transform Europe.

CAMPAIGN NEWS

UK development consultants protest for more pay Not really. It was actually an April Fools’ Day prank that coincided with the launch of our new report looking at how the UK’s growing aid budget has become a lucrative business for a handful of UKbased consultant firms. Our report, ‘The Privatisation of UK Aid’ showed that free-market development consultants Adam Smith International had won at least £450m in aid-funded contracts since 2011.

In 2014 alone, the Department for International Development spent nearly £90m of its money through the company - almost twice what it spent on programmes to tackle diseases like HIV and Aids.

Diane Abbott, the shadow secretary of state for international development, commented on the report: “We need to critically assess if the sort of free market reforms that Adam Smith International are enabling in the developing world, using UK taxpayers’ money, are actually helping to alleviate poverty or if they are making it worse.”

UK aid funding blackouts in Nigeria An estimated £50 million of UK aid money is funding the privatisation of energy in Nigeria – with disastrous results.

The process, part of a £100 million project run by consultants Adam Smith International, has so far seen Nigerian people facing regular blackouts, as well as higher prices. The companies involved have made many workers redundant and had to be bailed out by the central bank in 2014.

Global Justice Now supporters have been putting pressure on UK international development minister Nick Hurd to not give this failing project any more aid. We have also submitted evidence to an inquiry into the Department for International Development’s activities in Nigeria. We expect to find out in April if we have successfully stopped the third phase of this project.

2016 Ninety-Nine 3

CAMPAIGN NEWS

© Ma rtyn Ba rso

People power triumphed in Brussels this spring as plans to re-license a little-known chemical called glyphosate were dramatically halted.

Millions of people across Europe demanded that the EU refuse the re-licensing after the World Health Organisation found that glyphosate probably causes cancer, and this public pressure led the vote to be postponed.

Glyphosate is sprayed in gardens and parks everywhere, and is even found in food and sanitary products. It poses a serious health risk, so the decision to ban it should be an easy one.

But not everyone wins if glyphosate is banned from Europe. The chemical also happens to be the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, the world’s most popular weed-killer.

With Monsanto’s profits depending on continued glyphosate use, it has a lot to lose and has no doubt been out in full lobbying force. Part of this is done by Monsanto working very hard to create the image that it is a sustainable company. In an effort to challenge this, Global Justice Now has released a “brandalism” pack for our activists to use in the shops and garden centres where Roundup is sold across the UK. Each pack contains spoof Roundup labels and stickers telling the truth about the danger that Monsanto’s products hold for people and planet.

In the run up to the decision in the European Union over 10,000 Global Justice Now supporters have signed the petition urging UK representatives to put people’s health before corporate profit and stop glyphosate. At the time of writing there is still everything to play for as the final decision is due to be made in May. To order a brandalism pack or find out more, head to

4 Ninety-Nine 2016

n

Switch on energy democracy A new campaign for a publicly-owned energy company for London is gathering pace.

The Switched On London campaign, based on the energy democracy principles of social justice and renewable energy, aims to persuade the Greater London Authority and London’s councils to embrace the new model.

Although this campaign is based in London, it has already inspired activists in Manchester to start planning a similar initiative and could easily pop up elsewhere.

Nottingham City Council has already set up a publicly owned company which aims to supply affordable energy, aptly called Robin Hood Energy.

Switched On London was launched by Fuel Poverty Action, Platform and the New Economics Foundation.

Global Justice Now is supporting it and we are hoping the concept spreads across the UK. switchedonlondon.org.uk

The return of the Hunger Games The fight is on to make sure an important campaign victory against food speculation isn’t watered down.

‘Stop betting on hunger’ was the slogan of our fouryear campaign to win new EU rules to tackle financial speculation on food. Global Justice Now supporters helped get unprecedented European legislation to curb the gambling on staple foods that saw prices rocket during the 2008 global food crisis.

The European Commission has since been working on implementing the legislation. But at the end of last year, it was considering proposals from the European financial regulator that would massively weaken the new rules – so we are mobilising once again.

Supporters and allies wrote to key MEPs to pressure the European Parliament not to accept weakened proposals and it has made them take notice. The parliamentary lead negotiator told the commission that the section on speculation limits “urgently needs a comprehensive redrafting in order to effectively curb food speculation”.

We also co-ordinated an open letter to the European Commission, endorsed by 5,000 supporters and 25 European organisations. The commission has now sent the proposals back to the European regulator and asked for review – public pressure is making a difference.

CAMPAIGN NEWS

Activists learn from Barcelona social movements In April Global Justice Now led a delegation of activists to Barcelona to find out about exciting developments in food sovereignty, energy democracy and the co-operative economy. Last year prominent housing activist Ada Colau became mayor of Barcelona as part of a new coalition of progressive parties and activists called Barcelona En Comù (‘Barcelona in common’).

The coalition is now trying to bring the water system back into public hands and set up a municipal energy company, as well as strengthening the ‘solidarity economy’, building on the work of social movements over the last decade. This work includes Barcelona’s many food co-ops, which are supplied by producers from the local area. We also attended a conference against TTIP organised by the city government and visited Can Batllo, a complex of 19th century factory buildings which has been reclaimed by the local community.

© Kennedy Walker/Global Justice Now

The Global Justice Now group are shown around Can Batllo.

2016 Ninety-Nine 5

GLOBAL NEWS MOVEMENT NEWS

Berta Cáceres, a prominent indigenous and human rights campaigner in Honduras, was murdered in her home in March, less than a week after she had been threatened for opposing Central America’s largest hydropower project.

Berta was leading a high-profile campaign to prevent the construction of Agua Zarca, a giant dam planned in the Gualcarque river basin, which campaigners say would choke the main source of irrigation and drinking water for downstream communities.

Honduras has been identified as the country with the highest number of campaigners killed relative to its population, and the struggle against the dam’s construction continues to bring activists up against powerful landowners, a US-funded police force, and a mercenary army of private security guards.

In an interview last year, Berta said: “We must undertake the struggle in all parts of the world, wherever we may be, because we have no other spare or replacement planet. We have only this one, and we have to take action.”

Berta Cáceres (right) founded the National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras (COPINH) to address the growing threats posed to indigenous communities by illegal logging, fight for their territorial rights and improve their livelihoods.

© Goldman Environmental Prize

Prominent Honduran indigenous rights campaigner murdered

Burkina Faso rejects genetically modified cotton Cotton companies in Burkina Faso are abandoning Monsanto’s genetically modified Bt cotton as new research suggests that its quality has deteriorated in comparison to traditional, non-GM varieties. Bt cotton was commercialised in 2009 in Burkina Faso, and since then a larger proportion of the country’s cotton crop has ended up with a lower quality classification, harming exports.

6 Ninety-Nine 2016

Burkina Faso’s decision to abandon GM cotton comes at a time when there is heightened pressure on countries across Africa to adopt GM technologies. Countries like Kenya, which had a moratorium on GM crops, have been subject to intense lobbying from Monsanto, the Gates Foundation and the USAID development agency to overturn the ban.

Anna Maina, the national chair of the Kenya Biodiversity Coalition, said: “GMO foods are being pushed as the panacea to food security. We reject this and call for Kenyans to demand that the government invests into systems that promote seed and food sovereignty like organic agriculture, investment in irrigation and land management systems.”

GLOBAL NEWS GLOBAL MOVEMENT

Monsanto blockade in Argentina enters third year Construction of what would be Monsanto’s second largest seedprocessing plant in Latin America has been halted for over two years as activists continue to blockade the construction site. While opposition in the small rural town of Malvinas Argentinas originally focused on the environmental impact of the plant’s construction, it has since encompassed a broader critique of Monsanto’s corporate power and domination of food systems.

Unilever settles with workers suffering from mercury poisoning in India Over ten years after a claim was first filed in Chennai’s high court, Unilever has reached a settlement with 591 workers suffering a variety of health conditions they say were caused by unsafe working conditions in a local thermometer factory.

While local campaigners have welcomed the settlement, they are still pushing for the company to clean up a site that they say has been contaminated by the factory.

Auckland brought to a standstill over toxic trade deal The signing of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal in Auckland, New Zealand prompted the biggest protests the country has seen in over 30 years. Protesters argued that the deal would undermine New Zealand’s sovereignty and massively increase corporate power. Maori groups were at the forefront of the protests, while prime minister John Key struggled to find Maori performers willing to welcome the foreign diplomats for the signing with a traditional powhiri ceremony.

Liberia outsources education system to private American firm The Liberian education minister announced earlier this year that the country’s entire pre-primary and primary education system would be outsourced, much of it to US-based company Bridge International Academies to manage. The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Kashore Singh, commented that “provision of public education of good quality is a core function of the state. Abandoning this to the commercial benefit of a private company constitutes

a gross violation of the right to education”.

Last year Global Justice Now released a report, ‘Profiting from Poverty, again’ which raised concerns over UK aid money being used to support projects in the global south which involved the privatisation of health care and education. UK aid money had been linked indirectly to Bridge International Academies through a separate funding mechanism.

WTO comes down hard on India’s solar panel industry India’s huge solar power initiative has been delayed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for breaking trade rules.

The solar initiative was found ‘guilty’ because of a small 10% quota for domestic solar panel manufacturers, even though this leaves up to 90% of supply for imported panels.

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission was on track to deliver 20,000 MW of solar power by 2022, but the ruling has put the brakes on the programme.

The WTO is notorious for rulings that favour the US against countries in the global south. This ruling against India was made despite nearly half of the US states having ‘buy-local’ rules in their own renewable energy programmes.

Reports indicate that India is planning to appeal against the decision.

© Knut-Erik Helle

NEWS SHORTS

A woman in rural Rajasthan training to become a solar engineer.

2016 Ninety-Nine 7

TRADE JUSTICE

In or Out, CETA would mean a power grab by corporations MOLLY SCOTT-CATO MEP explains how the EU-Canada trade deal could lead to corporations writing the rulebooks.

Trade deals: who are they for, and why is there such secrecy around them? Those are the questions people are starting to ask as deals like the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) loom large in the debate around Britain’s EU referendum.

The talks on TTIP, a treaty between the EU and the US, began entirely hidden from public scrutiny, with the backing of European prime ministers. It took MEPs like myself and my Green colleagues

8 Ninety-Nine 2016

to protest inside the European Parliament just to gain basic access to the EU’s negotiation documents.

But the fight around trade deals is not a fight against the EU. We know this because many of the provisions that negotiators want to include in these deals are fully supported by individual national governments, including our own, usually at the behest of big business. In fact many of the worst ideas have been

taken from country-to-country agreements that European countries have signed in the past.

Strangely, one of the models that those in favour of ‘Brexit’ (British exit from the EU) are turning to is that of Canada. The EU is currently finalising a trade deal with Canada, known as CETA – the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. This could be a template for what would be on offer for the UK outside the

TRADE JUSTICE

CORPORATE COURTS More controversially, CETA includes a proposal for an investment court system – a minor revision of the highly

controversial ‘investor-state dispute settlement’ or ISDS clause in TTIP. This is a manoeuvre where corporations place themselves above the law by requiring the creation of special courts to hear their grievances involving pesky governments.

Worryingly, including investment courts in CETA would allow tens of thousands of Canadian-based US subsidiaries to take arbitration cases against European countries. This opens the floodgates to challenges against any progressive law or regulation intended to further the public good, from a sugary drinks tax to support for alternative energy sources.

This is why we tend to see this new round of trade deals as something much more sinister. It’s no longer about a simple reduction of tariffs.

It’s a power grab by corporations seeking to write the rules of the global economy for decades to come.

BIG BUSINESS SUPPORTS CETA © Flickr GUE/NGL

It’s no surprise that those with links to big business on either side of the referendum debate support CETA. There is little evidence that leaving the EU would result in alternative trade deals that benefit ordinary people over big business. In fact, it would come as no surprise if the Tories negotiated an even worse trade deal after a Brexit vote.

As the EU is the largest consumer market in the world, having a seat at the table to influence the rules on global trade cannot be underestimated. We have little hope of changing deals like CETA for the better by shouting from the sidelines.

In Europe, progressive voices are stronger together, and the pressure that millions of Europeans have brought to bear has made a clear dent in the wish lists of big business and the European Commission’s

TAKE ACTION! Write to your MEP: ask if they will pledge to oppose CETA when there’s a vote in the European parliament. With partners across the EU we are mapping out where the pressure needs to be applied in Brussels. Let us know of any response you get.

A growing number of local councils are taking a stand against CETA and TTIP. Get yours to join the 40+ UK councils already opposing the deals. ttipfreezone.org.uk Spread the word: not enough people know about TTIP, even fewer about CETA. Use our leaflets, briefings and other campaign materials, all listed here globaljustice.org.uk/tags/ceta Sign up for monthly updates on trade from Global Justice Now. Go to globaljustice.org.uk/ttipnews

way of doing things. It is certain that more needs to be done, which is why staying in is so important.

If those intent on leaving are holding up CETA as the model for future ‘go-it-alone’ British trade deals with the world, then the future doesn’t look so bright. Corporations are transnational; our resistance to them needs to be too. Retreating to our national borders doesn’t solve the problem, nor curb their influence. The EU is the new frontier to fight that fight.

Molly Scott-Cato is a Green Party MEP for the South West of England.

Left: MEPs from across Europe, including Molly Scott-Cato, protest outside the restricted trade deal reading room after being excluded from it.

2016 Ninety-Nine 9

© Campact

EU. Although surrounded in as much secrecy as TTIP, many in the ‘leave’ camp believe this sort of deal is the way to go.

Whether in or out, a deal like CETA is not a model we should celebrate.

It includes the dropping of tariffs on 97% of products, including on most agricultural goods, which will put pressure on already squeezed EU farmers. It pushes for further liberalisation of our public services through jargon-filled mechanisms that, combined, make it almost impossible to bring services back under national control. There is even evidence that the deal sunk progressive EU climate policy against Canadian tar sands oil.

EU REFERENDUM

What Brexit means for us The EU referendum matters for Global Justice Now. NICK DEARDEN explains why.

© Ernesto Gonzalo

Do you want to be ruled by an undemocratic commission, captured by big business, imposing brutal austerity and pushing toxic trade deals?

Or would you prefer to live in an offshore centre of unregulated finance, closed to immigrants, tinged with racism?

It’s not surprising that many campaigners are unenthusiastic about the EU referendum. Of course, we want neither of these options. But we can’t ignore the profound effect that Brexit – a British exit from the EU – would have on our campaigns. And this is too important to leave to David Cameron and Nigel Farage. So the conclusion Global Justice Now’s members have come to is that we must stay in the EU in order to change it (see box, page 12).

Europe’s current trajectory is unsustainable: climate change, austerity, closed borders and inequality. But outside Europe, we’ll have little chance to change that. It’s possible to imagine

10 Ninety-Nine 2016

a Europe which is truly democratic, which promotes equality, which is a world leader on environmental protection, which respects and empowers workers, which reins in corporate power, which welcomes migrants. But it’s going to take some work.

TTIP We’re a very long way from that Europe. Just look at the US-EU trade deal TTIP. This is an example of the EU at its very worst.

If we left the EU, we might be free of TTIP, though this is dependent on the transitional arrangement negotiated by the British government. But what would replace it? British governments have consistently pushed the EU to the right, urging ever more ‘free market’ policies. In fact, while

EU REFERENDUM Left to right: The ‘indignados’ movement in Madrid, May 2012; ‘Nuit Debout’ protesters in Paris, April 2016; TTIP and CETA protesters in Germany, December 2014.

© Olivier Ortelpa

FINANCE AND FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT © Ca mpact

© Cam pact

Germany and France were concerned about the corporate court system in TTIP 18 months ago, the UK secretly wrote to the European Commission president demanding he retain it.

They’ve fought for the most extreme version of TTIP possible.

High profile supporters of the Out campaign have repeatedly said that they believe the UK would be able to realise a more ‘ambitious’ and faster free trade deal if we stood alone. In fact, all of the models put forward as to how the UK would economically survive outside Europe have stressed extreme free trade agreements coupled with looser regulation to make us more ‘competitive’. That’s TTIP on steroids.

And we wouldn’t have the millions of German, French, Spanish and Polish campaigners alongside us trying to stop this toxic deal. If being in the EU has brought us TTIP, it has also brought us the movement capable of stopping it.

Today big business has so much power that nation states are played off against one another in the search for corporate profits. The EU is one of the few institutions that would have the power – if radically reformed – to properly tax, regulate, publicly control and break up corporations.

On a number of issues, the EU has tended to ensure better policies than the UK would otherwise have. Indeed, the weakness of Europe’s financial regulation is primarily a result of British government’s desire to protect the privileges of the City of London. David Cameron’s most recent renegotiation was centred around protecting financial privileges and attacking workers’ and migration rights.

But it’s on freedom of movement that the EU has most clearly delivered something positive.

While it has come under unrelenting pressure from the right wing, freedom of movement has begun to erode the fact that a person’s rights and future depend upon where they were born.

Of course, it still only covers a small part of the world, but it’s a first step that can be built on.

Today we face a dark period in Europe.

Refugees are being fired on with teargas at borders and NATO ships are turning back desperate people in the Mediterranean. It’s difficult to see how Brexit will make this situation better. Britain helped scupper a deal which would have seen a fairer allocation of refugees across Europe. At best, Brexit means burying our head in the sand and saying ‘it’s someone else’s problem’. At worst, it reinforces the turn to nationalism and disintegration which will end the hope of global freedom of movement for a generation.

2015 Ninety-Nine 11

EU REFERENDUM

FOOD AND ENERGY The EU’s food and energy policies have been rightly criticised. The Common Agricultural Policy is almost a synonym for waste. Europe’s energy policies put human rights to one side, scouring the world for control of the very fossil fuels that threaten our existence.

All true. But Europe’s food policy was intended to support Europe’s producers. It needs radical reform, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater and give the free market even more power over our food system.

The EU’s energy policy is a disgrace, but there are signs that people are fighting for something different.

Especially in Germany, the campaign for energy democracy has inspired people across Europe.

OURS IS A CRITICAL ‘IN’ We spend a huge proportion of our time campaigning to change the EU. We understand the democratic black hole that exists at its centre, and the injustices the European institutions perpetuate around the world. No campaigner can have witnessed the brutal blackmail forced on Greece last summer without questioning the EU. Supporting an alternative ‘in’ position in no way justifies the policies of the EU. We have a lot in common with those members and allies who want Brexit not because they’re nationalist but because they see a rupture with the EU as the only way to return democracy to Europe. We share common principles of internationalism, respect for human rights and equality, anti-racism and a commitment to democracy. We want to engage in respectful debate and, after the referendum, whatever the result, we will work together to build something better.

Our commitment to the EU is far

from unconditional. In the words of Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek finance minister, the EU faces a choice: democracy or disintegration.

Perhaps the EU will ultimately prove unreformable. But we want to convince ordinary British people that our opponent is not German, Polish, or Greek people, but elites who have turned our continent and our world into their plaything, to be exploited for profit.

A victory for Brexit will not be a victory for those who share our values. Rather, it will be a triumph for nationalism, for those opposed to immigration, human rights and equality.

Of course, a victory for staying in will not necessarily be our victory either.

But if we can use this campaign to build bridges with our allies, to mobilise for a different Europe, then the referendum might be a starting point for something better.

Nick Dearden is the director of Global Justice Now.

WE ASKED YOU We asked Global Justice Now members and local groups what position they thought we should take on the EU referendum. 85% of those who responded said they thought the referendum was relevant to our work, with only 6% saying it wasn’t.

68% ‘in’

What’s more, 68% said they thought we should take a conditional ‘in’ position (stay in the EU to change the EU). That’s compared to 16% who thought we should engage but not take a position, and 8% who thought we should argue for ‘out’.

Local groups:

87.5% ‘in’

Our local groups gave an even clearer vote: 100% thought that the EU referendum is relevant to our aims. 87.5% thought we should campaign for an ‘in’ vote, with 12.5% arguing against taking any position.

© Brookings Institution

Yanis Varoufakis argues that the EU faces a choice between democracy and disintegration.

12 Ninety-Nine 2016

in is t ic rd e v e h T : e in -N ty e in N We recently asked you what you think of Ninety-Nine. We did this for one simple reason: it’s your magazine. By listening to your feedback, we can improve and be. adapt it to what you’d like it to

We had a lot of positive ign. comments about the new des d And we were particularly please y to hear that a significant majorit of you think that the language is and content of the magazine clear and easy to understand.

campaigners and social justice organisations.

d But you also gave us a really goo e idea of what we can improv on and what you’d like to see more of. For example, some of our readers suggested that we should avoid using white text on lighter coloured backgrounds as it’s harder to read. A few of n you would also like to hear eve more about other grassroots

e We learned a lot. And we hop that you’ll soon begin to see improvements in Ninety-Nine based on your feedback.

Thanks to all our members and supporters who took the time to complete the survey.

Also, congratulations to the lucky winner of the Fairtrade chocolates, Mrs Armstrong.

For a more in depth look at the results, check out globaljustice.org.uk/ YourNinety-Nine

Together we are powerful you. To remain independent, we At Global Justice Now, we’re o refuse funding from anyone wh e proud to be outspoken. We tak might force us to water down our on issues that others are afraid campaigns. In 2015, a massive to touch and we don’t make 78% of our income came from compromises. It’s the very reason individuals. we were set up more than 45 We believe that without years ago. And in an era where to k ‘stic to campaigns that challenge the charities that refuse powerful, we will never address their knitting’ are increasingly nt the real reasons why people under attack, it’s more importa continue to live in poverty when than ever. there is enough food, energy There’s one reason alone we and water in the world for can do this and that’s individual everyone. supporters and members like

Global Justice Now Although Global Justice embodies the power of Now is a UK organisation, not unity to bring positive all our members are based change; to reclaim real here. Greg from Berlin tells us democracy and justice. why he recently joined as an It simply reflects what I international member: stand for. s “Global Justice Now addresse Change does not come the very root of injustice by itself. Let’s do it.” and poverty which is purely political.

Your support ensures that we can keep doing this, fighting for a fairer future. And we want to thank you for that. Whether you have a direct debit, donate to our appeals, have included Global Justice Now in your will or donate in other ways, your commitment helps secure our independence and make sure we continue to speak out against injustice. Together we are powerful. Thank you.

MIGRATION The truth is that there is no ‘migrant crisis’. There is a war crisis, a poverty crisis and an economic inequality crisis. The people trying to get to Europe are escaping war or poverty.

This is not a ‘migrant crisis’

The real solution involves dealing with these root causes.

At the very least, we need to stop our governments pursuing policies that make things worse. That means not arming a Saudi Arabia that is aggressively bombing Yemen. That means not making dodgy deals with a Turkish government that is more interested in repressing the Kurds than stopping ISIS. That means not pushing unfair trade deals that lock poor countries into poverty.

Let’s make a case for a Europe that defends freedom of movement, writes Alex Scrivener So far, the debate on migration in the EU referendum campaign has been depressing. Right-wing populists and xenophobes have been allowed to define the framing of the issue. Much of the tabloid press paints migrants as a ‘problem’ that must be solved by raising the drawbridge and leaving the EU. The major ‘out’ campaigns, especially Nigel Farage’s Leave.EU and so-called Grassroots Out, have been keen to play the migration card at every opportunity.

It’s a crisis

resource exploitation

All the while, the main campaign to stay in the EU, Britain Stronger in Europe, has chosen to pretty much ignore the issue. On the rare occasions on which they do mention migration, it’s to scaremonger over the possibility of Calais-style refugee camps in Dover or to reassure us that the EU will be more effective at stopping migrants arriving in Europe.

This leaves the field clear for Farage and his allies to own the issue of migration.

Allowing this to happen is a mistake. Progressives need to be bold in defending the free movement of people within Europe and push for more, not less, of this freedom.

In fact, more people need to reject the entire characterisation of what is going on in places like the Mediterranean as a migrant crisis. This makes it sound like it’s the people who are the problem.

It’s a crisis

of

inequality 14 Ninety-Nine 2016

of

MIGRATION Of course we also need to be taking our share of refugees.

Remember that, for all the headlines, the vast majority of people fleeing conflict in Syria are not coming to Europe. If Lebanon, a country half the size of Wales, has taken in over a million Syrian refugees, the UK should take many more than the 40,000 a year it has pledged to accept over the next five years.

The populist arguments against immigration don’t stack up. In fact, migration to Britain not only boosts the economies of poorer countries (through remittances) but also supports our public services. The NHS would collapse

without immigration. The welfare state, contrary to tabloid lies, depends upon migrants who pay into the system.

We need to unravel unfair immigration rules that are breaking up parents from their children – and forcing teachers to leave the country because they don’t earn enough to stay. We need to end humiliating practices like asking gay asylum seekers to submit ‘video evidence’ of their sexuality. And we need to not only stay in the EU to fight the Fortress Europe mentality that is killing thousands on the Mediterranean and Aegean seas every year, but also join the border-free Schengen zone and campaign for its expansion so more people can enjoy the right to free movement.

We need to go further and argue for a radical move towards a world without borders.

It’s a crisis

of

war

But it’s not enough to simply make minor changes to the status quo. We need to go further and argue for a radical move towards a world without borders. After all, UK citizens can, provided they have the money for the tickets, breakfast in Istanbul, lunch in Paris and dine in New York. People from poorer countries have to submit mountains of documents and wait for visas if they want to visit family or friends abroad – and are often refused.

So we need to push for a world in which people everywhere have a right to free movement, regardless of where they are from. It may seem a long way off, but if we don’t at least begin to make the case, we risk ceding the debate to the forces of nationalism and xenophobia.

Alex Scrivener is a policy officer at Global Justice Now. Illustrations by Jacob V Joyce.

It’s a crisis

of

climate change 2016 Ninety-Nine 15

© Ma rtin Le Sa

nto -Sm ith

Liberating Tate is just the beginning A wave of art activism is pushing cultural divestment in the UK. Tate galleries have formed the backdrop to some pretty impressive performance art in recent years, such as a naked man in a foetal position being covered in oil, a giant wind turbine blade being installed in the Turbine Hall, and black veiled figures chanting rising numbers as they passed through the galleries.

But these performances were not carried out at the invitation of Tate – they were unsolicited interventions by the art collective Liberate Tate, which for six years targeted Tate’s controversial and long-standing sponsorship from oil giant BP. And after six years of generating headlines and engaging with the art world on its own terms, it was

successful. In March it was announced that Tate wouldn’t be taking any more money from BP. Oil companies sponsor cultural institutions to cultivate a positive public image, in order to continue operations with impacts ranging from devastated ‘fenceline’ communities to the worsening climate crisis. BP and Shell have put a lot of effort into developing long-standing sponsorship deals with institutions like Tate in order to come across like benevolent parts of society.

In ‘Birthmark’, performers received tattoos of the level of carbon dioxide in the year they were born.

Groups such as Liberate Tate have been pushing back against oil sponsorship deals to undermine the power base from which oil companies operate. They wrote: “Our work on Tate is about trying to kick some of the

‘Human Cost’, performed in Tate Britain on the first anniversary of BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster.

© Amy Scaife

16 Ninety-Nine 2015

Aerial shot of Tate Turbine Hall after black confetti was dropped to celebrate the end of BP’s sponsorship.

supporting legs out from underneath BP’s chair – taking a relationship that nurtures and sustains BP and transforming it into one that was actively damaging for the company.”

Liberate Tate ploughed new ground by abandoning conventional forms of protest and embracing a confrontational style of performance art that they used to explore themes of pollution, institutional critique, humanity’s indelible impact on the climate and corporate accountability.

‘Hidden Figures’ echoed Malevich’s ‘Black Square’ painting as well as a Freedom of Information court case.

© Mar tin Le

We salute the imagination and boldness of Liberate Tate in getting BP out of the Tate. And we hope for the same success for groups targeting other sponsorship deals that are still standing, such as between the British Museum and BP and between Shell and numerous prominent cultural institutions in the Netherlands.

Sa nto- Sm ith

Over 25 hours, performers covered the Turbine Hall in writing related to art, climate and oil in ‘Time Piece’.

© Mar tin LeSa nto- Smi

Performers assembled a wind turbine blade in Tate Modern in ‘The Gift’.

th

© Martin LeSanto-Smith

2015 Ninety-Nine 17

CLIMATE JUSTICE

Uruguay ditches toxic trade deal A coalition of trade unions, environmentalists and farmers was able to take on the world’s biggest companies and win, writes Viviana Barreto The Uruguayan government’s decision to end its involvement in the secret negotiations around TISA (the Trade In Services Agreement) is an important victory in the global fight against bad trade deals.

TISA aims to go far beyond current trade rules and force states to further privatise public services and reduce regulations. These measures often mean job losses, less environmental protection, and less accessible healthcare and education.

Viviana Barreto.

Uruguay has created a blueprint for how to stop corporate-driven agreements like this one. It is time for other countries to follow their lead. After months of intense pressure, led by unions and other social movements – including a general strike on the issue – Uruguay’s president listened to public opinion and left the US-led trade agreement.

WHAT IS TISA? The little-known TISA negotiations involve 52 nations, who together cover around two-thirds of the global economy: the United States, European Union and 23 other countries. It relates to the ‘services sector’ of the economy, which in the EU makes up approximately 75% of total economic activity.

The agreement aims to do away with domestic regulation of services, with a special focus on sectors such as finance, telecommunications, internet and e-trade. For example it means prohibiting countries 18 Ninety-Nine 2016

from adopting privacy laws that limit the sharing of sensitive information across borders.

Despite its wide-ranging effects on every part of our economy, TISA is being negotiated in complete secrecy. The only information available about the agreement has come from Wikileaks.

STRONG COALITION Yet these trojan horse trade deals are not inevitable.

In Uruguay, a strong coalition of trade unions, environmentalists and farmers, working together on an effective public campaign, were able to take on the interests of the world’s biggest companies – and win.

Building a strong coalition against TISA enabled popular opposition to the agreement to grow rapidly across diverse sections of society, from doctors to metal workers. Uruguay’s trade union federation played a crucial role in organising mass mobilisation, with thousands marching in the streets and a general strike against TISA.

Uruguay has created a blueprint for how to stop corporate-driven agreements. It is time for other countries to follow the lead.

The Stop TISA campaign was able to successfully lobby and engage the government on the issue.

It exposed the negative effects that Uruguay’s participation in the trade deal would have on key government policies in health and education, as well as the role of the state in addressing inequality.

Stopping TISA in its tracks is a huge victory for the Uruguayan people and their fight for a more just and sustainable future. It is time for other countries involved in the negotiation to do the same and end this bad deal.

Viviana Barreto is a campaigner with Friend of the Earth Uruguay/ REDES.

REVIEWS

Reviews THE SAFFRON TALES Yasmin Khan Bloomsbury, 2016

THE EGYPTIANS: A RADICAL STORY Jack Shenker Allen Lane, 2016

Armed with little more than a notebook and a bottle of pomegranate molasses, BritishIranian cook and activist Yasmin Khan traversed Iran is search of the country’s most delicious recipes. The project was intended to be as much of a cultural intervention as it was a cookbook.

Yasmin described how the average person in the UK only associated “nukes, bombs and war” with Iran, and she wanted to challenge stereotypes by presenting “a fascinating journey into the hearts (and stomachs) of Iranians today”.

The Saffron Tales showcases Iranian cookery in all its splendour, from the abundant use of green herbs, to the interesting combinations of fruits in savoury dishes. Although there’s plenty of appetising-looking dishes based on meat, as a vegetarian I found that there was still plenty of recipes that I could get involved in. And stunning photos of Iran and its peoples from cover to cover.

Kevin Smith

In January 2011, an uprising began in Egypt that ended 18 days later in the downfall of Hosni Mubarak’s brutal dictatorship. But five years on, as another authoritarian military regime governs the country, the dominant narrative is that modern Egypt is a textbook example of the limits of revolutions.

In this remarkable book, Jack Shenker powerfully dispels this narrative. Through a series of compelling and often moving stories, Shenker develops a portrait of Egypt from below which shows that the spirit of insurgency long predated the Arab Spring and still lives on in powerful ways. Through the

subversion of religious, ethnic and gender identities; in workplace militancy; and in new forms of political organisation, what Shenker calls ‘Revolution Country’ is a fundamental part of the political texture of today’s Egypt, and we would be foolish to dismiss it.

This is a fascinating, wonderful book about events of profound significance for our world. It cannot be recommended highly enough.

Ed Lewis

#THISISACOUP Paul Mason Available on youtube #ThisIsACoup is a four part documentary series by former economics editor at Channel 4 News, Paul Mason, and filmmaker, Theopi Skarlatos. It explores the period between Syriza’s euphoric election in January 2015 and the moment it accepted a new wave of austerity measures proposed by the Troika only one week after the people’s ‘OXI’ vote.

It’s an interesting overview of Greece’s political nightmare. Syriza never wanted to leave the Eurozone.

So the Troika had a tremendous amount of power over Greece from the outset and was convinced that if it accepted Syriza’s proposal, other countries would follow suit. Simply put,

there was no way out.

At times the series fails to capture the complexity of the situation, but what we do learn from is that the hope ordinary people of Greece invested in Syriza was misplaced from the beginning. #ThisIsACoup highlights the anti-democratic core of the EU, but it also reinforces the need for ordinary people to go out there and change things. And for that reason, it’s definitely worth a watch.

Malise Rosbech

2016 Ninety-Nine 19