Think Global June 2021

THINK GLOBAL

Act locally with Global Justice Now

June 2021

Contents 02 Welcome 03 News from Global Justice Now 04 People’s vaccine campaign 06 Climate justice 07 Trade justice 09 Debt cancellation 10 Groups and activism news 12 In the media Front page: Protestors block the main entrance at AstraZeneca’s AGM. Jess Hurd.

From URL to IRL: moving from online back to In Real Life Liz Murray Head of Scottish campaigns Just over a year since the start of the global pandemic and the first lockdown, and we’ve all had to adapt in so many ways – in our lives but also in our campaigning.

As an organisation we switched our staff quickly (and actually pretty smoothly) to working remotely. Organising locally has been challenging for many of you, we know, but despite this you’ve responded magnificently and imaginatively – holding your meetings on zoom (and in the park!), organising webinars and other online events and increasing use of social media and other ways of getting your message out there.

As well as having to make a rapid switch to the way we worked when the pandemic hit, we also quickly focussed on an important campaign to highlight the issue of unequal access to Covid-19 vaccines around the world, and the part played by the rules of a system which favours corporate profit over people. This inequality, combined with crippling levels of debt, means that many countries in the global south still have virtually no access to vaccines.

So as the possibilities for in real life meetings and activities open up again for us here in the UK - and we look forward to the chance of getting back to some of our old, familiar ways of campaigning – it’s more important than ever that we continue to campaign for a People’s Vaccine that is accessible and affordable to everyone everywhere.

Inserts Pharma

Pack for stalls including: Campaign action card, campaign leaflet, spoof vaccination centre signage, stickers, local press release template.

Trade/Climate

Briefing: Climate injustice: How corporate courts block climate action 2 June 2021

The summer campaign pack, with postcards, briefings, stickers etc, that comes with this edition of Think Global is designed to help you do this. We really hope you’re able to make good use of it.

Together we have made huge headway on this campaign but we must keep the UK government’s feet to the fire, as it’s one of only a few governments that continue to oppose the dropping of patents on Covid-19 vaccines. With President Biden having just recently switched position, now is the time to really ramp up the pressure on the UK to do the same. Let’s get out there together and do it.

News from Global Justice Now Activism team as lockdown opens up

These last few months, as you’d expect, all of our staff have been working from home – and some have been juggling home schooling with work. That’s beginning to change now, thankfully, as more staff are able to go into the office. And of course this also means we’re all able to organise more activities and events in real life – although we intend to keep the good and inclusive aspects of organising online as well.

Some of you may know that James (Head of activism) had to have a planned heart operation at the beginning of May. He’s still off now, recuperating, but is recovering well and should be back at work as normal by the end of June. In the meantime, his role is being covered by Liz Murray (head of Scottish campaigns) and Sam Lund-Harket (activism officer)

our trade campaign, via our work on food sovereignty or more recently through the pharma campaign and work around a People’s Vaccine. We’ll really miss her. But the good news is that she’s not going far, as her new role will be as Executive Director of Jubilee Debt Campaign.

We have two new members of staff who’ve started recently bringing lots of new experience and energy with them. Our new media manager is Joe Karp-Sawey who led media relations at the Fire Brigades Union in his previous job and has also worked at a global public relations agency. And we have a new campaigns officer on the pharma campaign, Alena Ivanova, who comes with loads of experience of activism and organising with the campaign group Another Europe is Possible.

Bye bye Heidi and hello Joe and Alena

After thirteen years of working for Global Justice Now (and of course World Development Movement before 2015) our colleague and brilliant campaigner Heidi Chow is moving on. Many of you will have met Heidi through our campaigns over the years, whether it was in the early days of

Action checklist

Pharma Meet with your local MP, hand in the People’s Vaccine petition and ask them to write to the UK government Order a summer activism pack Organise a stall or stunt Climate justice Join in with, or organise, a local hub assembly in your area to bring in new people and start gearing up for COP26 mobilisations

Trade Order some corporate courts and climate change action cards Organise a speaker event about corporate courts and climate change Debt Consider organising a local event about debt

June 2021 3

People’s vaccine campaign Huge victory as US switches position

In April, it was reported that president Biden was reconsidering the US opposition to the proposal to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to suspend patents on Covid -19 vaccines. Our US allies, as part of the People’s Vaccine alliance, intensified pressure on Biden and here in the UK we added to that pressure by co-ordinating a letter from 175 former world leaders and Nobel prize winners to urge Biden to support the proposal.

At the beginning of May, the Biden administration announced that it would be supporting a waiver on vaccine patents.

This is a huge victory for the campaign for a People’s Vaccine and a really significant move that could help unlock the deadlock at the WTO. It is also significant because the US government has longsupported big pharma’s agenda in its trade policy. Following the announcement, the governments of Spain, New Zealand and Ireland have also announced their support.

Next steps at the WTO

The UK government is still opposing the proposal but is becoming increasingly isolated in its position. So it’s vital that we keep up the pressure.

4 June 2021

Protests at big pharma AGMs

Last month, we launched a series of protests outside the shareholder meetings of the pharmaceutical companies who have patented Covid-19 vaccines. Our US friends protested at the AGMs of USbased Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson and here the Global Justice Now youth network took the lead in organising protests outside UK-based AstraZeneca’s shareholder meeting in Cambridge, as well as the company’s second largest site in Macclesfield. There was also a parallel protest at Oxford University. The demand to the company was to share its technology and know-how through the World Health Organisation’s Covid19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) to enable production to be ramped up across the world.

The protests really helped bring our campaign into the mainstream - gaining a huge amount of broadcast and print media coverage (see back page). This allowed us to explain the vital issue of global inequity of access to Covid-19 vaccines, leaving many Theo Barrett- Marshall

The South African WTO negotiator thanked global civil society for the public pressure that we have created and said that our campaigning has helped to strengthen their position at the WTO. The next stage of the process will be to move onto the negotiations stage where the fight will be to stop the proposal from being watered down.

The original proposal includes suspending intellectual property rules on all Covid-19 health technologies including vaccines, treatments, tests, PPE and medical devices and also includes several different types of intellectual property relevant to health technologies.

But do please take a moment to pat yourselves on the back for being a part of a major milestone in the campaign, with the US having changed its position!

Protestors outside the main entrance of AstraZeneca’s Macclesfield office

countries in the global south waiting months, if not years, for doses and to show how patenting of vaccines by pharmaceutical companies is artificially restricting supply and affecting prices.

We have had a few supporters and comments on social media questioning why we were protesting AstraZeneca, as the company has been widely praised for its non-profit pledge. Our rationale for doing this goes much wider than the issue of their non-profit pledge. We have written this blog post to explain why: www.globaljustice. org.uk/2021/04/why-we-are-targetingastrazeneca.

If you want to read in more detail about how a People’s Vaccine could be realised, we’d recommend the People’s Vaccine campaign policy manifesto ‘A five step plan for a People’s Vaccine’ published in May 2021 and on our website here: www.globaljustice.org.uk/resource/a-fivestep-plan-for-a-peoples-vaccine.

G7 summit

The UK is hosting the leaders of the G7 countries at a summit in Cornwall from 11-13 June where we are expecting an announcement from them on Covid-19 vaccines. We want to use this opportunity to put pressure on the UK government to drop its opposition to the suspension of patent rules on Covid-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organisation. We’re organising a flash mob in Cornwall on June 12. If you’re in the vicinity of Falmouth please contact Guy Taylor on activism@globaljustice.org.uk.

Take action

You can help put on the pressure by arranging to meet with your MP around the same time to hand them the petition to the UK government – which is currently signed by 2.5 million people globally and around 130,000 in the UK - and asking them to write to the Prime Minister on this issue. And why not make it a photo opp, and try to get

something in your local press? We can help you with this. Please get in touch and we can give you a version of the petition that you can hand in, a briefing for your MP and a draft press release that you can send to your local newspaper. Contact us at activism@globaljustice.org.uk.

Summer activism for a People’s Vaccine As restrictions continue to lift in the summer, it may be that you can start hosting stalls again at outdoor events, markets and festivals to help raise awareness of the campaign and build more signatories on the petition. We have produced a new summer activism pack for this which is enclosed with the mailing of this edition of Think Global.

The pack includes: • • • • • •

Guide for using the pack New campaign action card New campaign leaflet Spoof vaccination centre signage x2 Stickers Local press release template

Please send your photos to us of any stalls or stunts so we can share them, and if you require additional materials please contact: activism@globaljustice.org.uk.

Key resources NEW: Summer activism pack with action cards, stickers and leaflets to help you organise stalls Fighting for a People’s Vaccine Six-page briefing, including the demands we’re making to ensure vaccine justice for the global south (February 2021) Contact us to order these or find them at globaljustice.org.uk/resources.

June 2021 5

Climate justice UK fossil fuel finance

While the UK government committed to ending the use of aid money to support most types of fossil fuel infrastructure overseas back in March, there remain several important loopholes. In May, a new inquiry

by Westminster’s International Development Committee on the UN climate negotiations (COP26), international development and climate change gave us a chance to push the government further and close these loopholes.

We worked with an international group of a dozen NGO allies and Global Justice Now local groups to co-ordinate responses to the inquiry. The key points we addressed were the need to close all loopholes on fossil fuel finance, the potential for debt cancellation to support climate justice and the importance of the UK government ensuring genuine global south participation at COP26 in November.

During May we also took action to support our international allies, co-signing civil society letters calling on the new coalition government in the Netherlands and the African Development Bank (which receives significant funding from the UK government) to end their support for fossil fuels.

With the International Energy Agency recently arguing that no more fossil fuel supply projects can be developed to meet even the insufficient net zero by 2050 targets, it is clear that this is a crucial time to take down public backing for the fossil fuel economy.

Mobilising for COP26

As you’ll very likely know by now, the UN climate conference COP26 is coming to Glasgow from 1 -12 November. As part of the COP26 civil society coalition, Global Justice Now is helping bring people together locally across the UK during the summer and 6 June 2021

(pandemic permitting) we will be organising a big mobilisation in Glasgow (and possibly London and other cities) on the middle weekend of the two-week conference plus a hybrid online and in person People’s Summit from November 7-10. So put these November dates into your diary and prepare to get involved in whatever way you can.

Local coalition building this summer

From June onwards local hub assemblies will be organised across the UK, from the Highlands and Islands to Cornwall, to build and strengthen a climate justice network across the country. The assemblies will bring together local communities and groups to form local hubs, get the word out locally, build connections, take action locally and start preparing for mass mobilisations in November. Some of you may already be linked in to this but if not, and if you’re interested in organising or joining a local assembly, please get in touch with Guy Taylor at activism@globaljustice.org.uk.

COP mobilisations: November 5 and 6

Plans are just starting to form for two days of mass action on November 5 and 6, the middle weekend of the COP itself. The geographical focus for this will most likely be Glasgow, but there will very likely also be mobilisations planned in London and other regional centres.

People’s Summit: November 7 - 10

The COP26 coalition is organising a People’s Summit to run alongside the COP

talks. The plan is for a global gathering for climate justice which will bring together the international climate movement for an inspiring four-day alternative summit outside the official COP space. There will be the chance to hear from people struggling against injustice and fighting for a better world everywhere and to learn how to take the radical systemic action we need to address the climate crisis.

We’ll be giving updates, as we know more, about all the mobilisations around the COP26 in future editions of Think Global Extra so keep an eye out for those.

Homestay Network

The COP26 Homestay Network is an environmentally-friendly and affordable grassroots accommodation project for the COP. It matches hosts across the central belt of Scotland with activists, NGO staff, scientists and any others coming to COP26 from all over the world who need affordable, friendly accommodation.

Those in and around Glasgow list their sofa or spare room and will then be matched with a guest who needs a place to stay in November. For more details on being a host or to book accommodation see www.humanhotel.com/cop26.

Key resources Decarbonising Aid Why the UK must end its overseas fossil fuel financing before COP26. Four-page briefing (June 2020) The Case for Climate Justice 16-page illustrated booklet (July 2020) Contact us to order these or find them at globaljustice.org.uk/resources

Trade justice Corporate courts and climate action We’re now underway with campaigning on the impact of corporate courts on climate action – something that brings together trade and climate and forms part of our mobilisation toward the UN climate conference in November.

Corporate courts have long been used to oppose environmental protections. Now that we are finally seeing more governments around the world begin to take long needed action to tackle the climate crisis, we are also seeing more and more corporate court cases challenging those actions. Our Climate injustice briefing explains more on this.

An example that really sums up what we are talking about is the Netherlands coal phase out. Having introduced a law to phase out coal by 2030, the Dutch government is now

being sued by two energy companies, RWE and Uniper, in a corporate court. They’re using the Energy Charter Treaty to do this – an investment deal between more than 50 countries specifically on the energy sector, which includes corporate courts. Several other European countries are considering exiting. So far the UK wants to stay put, but if we ramp up the pressure that could change.

Over fifteen thousand people have already signed the petition we launched last month, which calls on the government to: • Drop corporate courts in the UK-Canada and UK-Australia trade deals • Exit the Energy Charter Treaty • Stop joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)

June 2021 7

We want to build the numbers on this petition over the next few months. So in addition to the online petition, we’ve produced an action card for use on stalls. These will be ready early in June. Please do order as many of these as you can make use of. Email activism@globaljustice.org.uk to order.

Key resources Climate injustice: How corporate courts block climate action. Four-page briefing (March 2021)

We’ve also got an action to email Liz Truss more specifically on the UK-Canada deal.

Nearly three quarters of mining companies globally are headquartered in Canada, and nearly half of all investment in mining goes through the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Canadian mining and energy companies are active in corporate courts, suing governments for action on climate change.

Don’t let corporate courts block climate action. Action card (due June 2021)

We’re also doing some digging into the history of corporate courts – the fossil fuel industry was behind the scenes in creating corporate courts back in the 1950s and 1960s. They wanted to keep their hands on natural nt resources in the movemteto e movemen ininth the JoJo ic x to fr a urts om see co oat por global South prp co op o stto aln etio ac dateed im cla K tr king S-u bl as countries uoc is petition d return th were achieving 1 1 Sign an section the tear off on x bo paign e 2 2 Tick th t the cam ore abou the independence. to hear m olved in inv t ge d ade t more an .org.uk/tr 3 3 Find ou baljustice glo at So they wrote the campaign rules in their own favour then, and we see them taking advantage of those rules again now in the context of the climate emergency. We’ll have more on this soon.

Contact us to order these or find them at globaljustice.org.uk/resources

HJ

G-YU RRBA-HAE Freepost Now Justice Global ey Road 66 Offl London SW9 0LS

US-UK trade

action card

ction to tear off se x on the n Tick the bo out the campaig ab hear more in the t involved re and ge ce.org.uk/trade mo t ou d Fin baljusti glo at nt moveme

hran e.c om nick coc .co.uk des ign: ngeldesigns

Design: reva

2.indd 1

s petition

return thi

stice Now 9 0LS Global Ju stice No, w 0LS ndon, SW Global Ju Road Lo on SW9 rg.uk 66 Offley Road, Londljustice.o rg.uk 66 Offley d@globa roa baljustice.o ey glo offl d@ offleyroa)20 7829 4900 +44(0 7820 4900 uk +44(0)20ljustice.org. globa e.org.uk globaljustic

xic no to Al de de trdA on’t let ts p urm tcrou h t rate i o p r W o c tion limate

block c

ac

Would you do a trade deal with this man?

Take a s tand ag ainst corpora te court The Ne therland s s is bein phasin Corpo g out rate co g sued

fuel co coal po for mpani wer by es! This corpor fossil is being ate co done in urt, un der a tra a At the de same tim deal. e the Br is trying itish go to sign vernmen us up to which will incl t ne w tra ude th de deal courts. ese sa s This is a me co threat just he rporate to clim re, but ate ac around tio the wor n not To have ld. a emerge hope of tack ling the ncy, we climate courts must le behind ave co . Sign th rporate call for is petit change ion to .

If you would like to learn more about corporate courts and climate, and have a speaker on this at a group or public meeting, please do contact Jean Blaylock, jean.blaylock@globaljustice.org.uk.

8 June 2021

The dirty coal company suing Holland for climate action. Video www.youtube. com/watch?v=EGKU2F7Iyv0

fold

Perf

Sign and

How trade deals are fuelling climate breakdown. Four-page leaflet (Feb 2021)

urts rules. Th ey enab can be writte n into tra to sue le trans countri nationa de es outsi system de of th l corporations . Now e natio that w govern e are nal lega ments l around 2:04 finally seeing long ne 17:2 the wor more ed 19/09/2019 ld begi more an ed action to n to tackle d more the clim take corpor fossil fu ate crisis ate co el com urts to , challeng panies are us Energy ing e those compa actions ni the Ne : therland es RWE and Un s over ip er ar the ph e suing Ascent ase ou Re t of co threaten sources, a UK al compa ing to su ny, is environ e Slove menta nia over l chec ks on fra Lone Pi cking ne is su ing Can over a ada frackin g morat Corpo orium rate co urts are obstacl an e to a clean transitio energy n and to achi climate eving justice .W take a stand ag e need to ainst th em.

To: The Prime Internat Minister and iona the

l Trade Corpo Secret rate co ary urts bloc when th k e UK gove UK is hosting climate actio n. In th th rnmen is year t should e COP26 cl im Drop co reject corpor ate talks, the rporate ate co UK-Aus urts: tralia tra courts in the UK-Can de deal Exit the ada an s Energy d Charte Stop jo r Treaty ining th e Trans Signed: -Pacific Partner ship (C PTPP) Name Postcod

e

Email

Other pe receive ople like you w our up dates to ho support ou about ot r fi suppor her ways to ge nd out more campaign ting ou and he t invol r work with a ved, includin ar donatio g YES plea n. se keep me up You ca n dated supporte change your by em ch rservic ail es@glo oices at any Read ou ba tim r privacy

231 51

policy

ljustice.o e rg.uk or by emailing here: glo calling us on 020 baljustic e.org.uk/ 7820 490 privacy 0.

-policy

Our new don’t let corporate courts block climate action - action card

Debt cancellation We’re continuing to build the pressure on big banks, calling on them to cancel the debt owed to them by governments across the global south. In late May, we protested outside HSBC’s Annual General Meeting in Canary Wharf at the bank’s refusal to cancel the debt it holds.

demands for debt cancellation are central to social justice and a just recovery from Covid-19, while Tess Woolfenden from Jubilee Debt Campaign and our debt campaigner Daniel Willis talked about how to take action against the big banks. If you missed out then don’t worry – a recording will soon be available on our YouTube channel.

Take action

We need to ensure that these vastly rich speculators are held to account and that they take action to ensure that governments of indebted countries have the funds to respond to their pandemic. There’s an online action to write to the CEOs of Blackrock, UBS, HSBC and JP Morgan on our website here www.act.globaljustice.org.uk/big-bankscancel-debt.

A graphic we produced calling on HSBC to drop the debt

Our research has found that HSBC controls more wealth ($2.9 trillion) than the combined GDPs of all African economies, and its profits from the past year alone ($11 billion) would be enough to fund vaccines for the entire African continent. It’s a disgrace that such a vastly rich financial corporation should continue to demand debt repayments at a time when many countries are struggling to fund vital healthcare for their citizens. As well as demonstrating outside the AGM, we also worked with shareholders to put questions to the board inside the meeting.

Before the AGM took place, we held a public webinar to build awareness, update members on our debt campaign and hear important southern perspectives on the debt crisis. Njoki Njehû from Kenya and Gyekye Tanoh from Ghana highlighted perfectly why

If you would like to organise a local event or action on debt cancellation, contact Daniel Willis at daniel.willis@globaljustice.org.uk.

We’re working with Jubilee Debt Campaign, CAFOD and Christian Aid on this campaign, so these groups could also be allies locally.

Key resources Exiting the permanent crisis in the global south: The case for a global financial reset in the wake of Covid-19. Eight-page briefing (April 2020) Under the Radar: Private sector debt and coronavirus in developing countries.

Eight-page briefing on private sector debt and coronavirus (October 2020) Contact us to order these or find them at globaljustice.org.uk/resources

June 2021 9

Groups news Global Justice Bexhill and Hastings sent written evidence to the UK Parliament’s International Development Committee inquiry into climate change, development and COP26.

Global Justice Cambridge continue to meet regularly online, which has attracted a few extra people. In March, Daniel Willis updated them on mobilising ahead of COP26. They were pleased to be joined by local supporters of CAFOD, allies in probing fossil fuel finance. They’re alarmed by the overwhelming combined injustice of the debt crisis, devastating aid cuts and tragic vaccine inequity. They supported the Global Justice youth network-led protest outside the AstraZeneca Cambridge HQ. Global Justice Manchester have been producing some wonderful graphics to use on their social media accounts. They also teamed up with Manchester Oxfam in April to put on a webinar entitled: ‘Covid-19 – are we really all in it together’, which attracted 51 attendees. This was then followed up a few days later by an ‘any answers’ event which resulted in a good follow up discussion and inspired group members to write letters to the Manchester Evening News and an article in the Meteor.

Global Justice Nottingham held an online speaker meeting on climate justice with speakers from the Green Party, the COP26 Coalition, a youth led group called Climate Action Nottingham, and Mary Lou Malig, an activist based in Bolivia. They had a good turn out and lively discussion, and hope it will trigger local mobilisation for COP26.

10 June 2021

Global Justice Reading recently held their first stall since the beginning of the first lockdown. It was at an event for gardeners so they chose the theme ‘How trade deals are fuelling climate breakdown’ and gave out leaflets as well as activity cards about individual ISDS cases which involved participants saying what they thought would happen next as the case progressed.

They’ve also requested meetings with the two local Reading MPs, one of whom is the president of the COP26 who they hope to speak to about aviation emissions.

Global Justice Sheffield have held monthly meetings via zoom since February. They joined the global rally for a People’s Vaccine, and took part online in the day of action following that. They organised a successful online event in the Festival of Debate (normally a series of live events in Sheffield) in which Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden gave a talk on “trade as if people matter” followed by a question and answer session. Nick’s talk was inspiring and generated a good discussion among the 37 participants.

Youth network

Since the last printed Think Global the youth network has been doing nationally focussed work led by the network itself, working with other allied groups.

The network campaigned in solidarity with the families and friends of Mohamud Hassan and Mouayed Bashir left dead after brutal police interventions in Wales.

These subvertising actions took place in several cities including London, Liverpool, Nottingham, Glasgow, Stirling, Cambridge, Leeds and the actions went viral.

The youth network national gathering (We Rise 2021) included three workshops run by members of the youth network themselves: A migration workshop (Nottingham), an anti-

racism workshop (Our Future Now, London) and a creative workshops (Leeds Youth Collective). These workshops have also been put on across the country outside of We Rise. In the case of the anti-racism workshop almost on a weekly basis! We Rise 2021 led to the establishment of a new group in Bristol and brought in many new activists.

On the day of AstraZeneca’s AGM the youth network organised protests in Oxford, Macclesfield and Cambridge to deliver an important message to the company and to big pharma: we demand a People’s Vaccine! There were banner drops, stencilling workshops, music, spoken word, impassioned speeches and shared food.

On the day inews published a supportive piece about the protests, followed by more coverage from the Guardian, the BBC and other local media. In total we had over 70 media hits on the day of the protest alone.

More activities the youth network has organised recently: • Vaccine talks in Liverpool, Nottingham, and Stirling • Workshops held across the UK on climate justice, activism 101 and freedom of movement • Reading groups held in many groups including London, Leeds and Brighton • Many groups have attended kill the bill and Palestine solidarity protests • Southampton and Swindon both held online showings of the Naomi Klein film This changes everything.

Asia Europe People’s Forum The 13th biennial Asia Europe People’s Forum took place between May 17 and 24 - with input and support from Global Justice Now in helping to organise and speak at this truly international event.

The 8-day online gathering featured eight plenaries, 35 webinar sessions, an interface with parliamentarians event and a closing online rally with speeches, music and poetry. The plenaries and sessions included presentations and testimonies from leaders and representatives of social movements, trade unions, campaign organisations and NGOs, as well as academic researchers with links to civil society organisations and progressive politicians from right across Europe and Asia. It was attended by participants from 45 countries.

The Asia Europe People’s Forum is an interregional network of progressive civil society organisations from across Asia and Europe. Set up in 1996, the AEPF is the main network linking Asian and European NGOs and social movements. Through the years, it has developed into an interregional platform used by member groups to campaign together on issues linked with trade and investments, abuses of transnational corporations, protection and promotion of human rights, social justice and equality, climate justice, migration, and peace and social security. All the events at the forum for a just, peaceful and sustainable world were recorded and are on the Asia Europe People’s Forum YouTube page.

June 2021 11

Global Justice Now in the media Our pharma campaign has become one of the central issues in the global vaccine access debate and has achieved a huge amount of national and international broadcast and print media coverage. Our campaigner Heidi Chow spoke to Channel 4 News, Sky News, LBC, Times Radio, and America’s National Public Radio (NPR) about the need for a People’s Vaccine, while our Director Nick Dearden spoke to CNN, Germany’s Deutsche Welle, and Asian news network CNA.

Heidi wrote the cover story on vaccine inequality for the spring issue of the New Internationalist, who also featured an online article on vaccine nationalism from Nick.

We condemned Boris Johnson’s “warped” attribution of the UK’s successful vaccine programme to “greed” and “capitalism”, which was picked up by outlets including the Financial Times, The Independent, Metro, the Press Association and the Washington Post.

Channel 4 News interviewed Heidi Chow about our attempt to arrange a meeting with pharmaceutical company CEOs and Covid-19 patients and healthcare workers.

Reuters covered our joint statement with MPs calling on the prime minister to publish his private correspondence with pharmaceutical companies.

The letters that Global Justice Now helped to organise from former world leaders, Nobel laureates, MPs, charities and unions demanding President Biden and Boris Johnson waive vaccine patents - were covered by the Financial Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, the Mirror, Sky News and The Independent.

Nick Dearden presented to the Independent SAGE group of scientists about the need for an intellectual property waiver on Covid-19, which then led a member of the group to call for the government to listen to Global Justice Now in an article for The Guardian.

Dorothy, our head of policy, called on countries like the UK to “step up” and waive vaccine patents in Euronews, The Observer and Huck magazine. We condemned pharmaceutical companies’ huge shareholder returns in The Guardian and hijacked AstraZeneca’s shareholder Q&A, securing stories in The Independent and Business Insider about the company’s claim it had “no engineers” available for vaccine technology transfer.

Journalists from The Guardian, Reuters and the Press Association attended our demonstrations outside AstraZeneca’s AGM, which received local, national and global attention, including the BBC, The Times, Mail Online, Metro, i, The Telegraph and Sky News.

On debt, our campaigner Daniel Willis wrote for Tribune about the role of private creditors like HSBC, while Reuters covered his criticism of G20 ministers for failing to commit to legislation forcing banks to participate in debt relief. The Guardian quoted Nick Dearden in an article about Sudan’s eye-watering interest payments on its debt to the UK. Our manifesto for Scotland’s Holyrood elections was covered in The National. Devex, the Morning Star and The Canary have carried our reactions to government announcements on aid cuts. And our trade campaigner Jean Blaylock has been quoted in openDemocracy The Ecologist and Politico’s Morning Trade.