Think Global November 2016

THINK GLOBAL

Act locally with Global Justice Now

November 2016 

Contents 02 Welcome 03 News roundup 04 Food sovereignty campaign 06 Trade justice campaign 08 Corporate power campaign 09 Migration campaign 10 Groups and activism news 12 Current materials

Inserts Trade

• Briefing about a UN treaty on corporations and human rights

Food

• Photos from our Monsanto mini photo exhibition 2 November 2016

It was people power that pushed CETA to the brink James O’Nions Activism team “Il est mort.” That’s how the premier of Wallonia (Belgium’s French-speaking region), Paul Magnette, declared the death of CETA after refusing to agree to the EU-Canada deal for the second time in two weeks.

Because Belgium has a federal system, all three of its regions have to grant it authority to sign CETA off alongside other EU governments. And unlike the EU as a whole, Wallonia had done its homework, commissioning impact assessments and convening expert panels.

Then, just as we were finalising Think Global, a deal was struck which meant Wallonia was prepared to stop blocking Belgium from signing CETA. Just in time for Halloween, the EU had brought CETA back from the dead.

Even so, the temporary impasse has left us in a better position than before, with the profile of CETA raised and new stumbling blocks created (see page 6). And while Wallonia might have been the agent of that, it’s hard to imagine how it could have done so if it weren’t for the huge European movement we have built over the last three years to oppose both TTIP and CETA. Thanks to activists around Europe, hundreds of cities and regions have declared themselves TTIP and CETA free zones.

Wallonia just happens to be one of the few regions that got an official say in agreeing CETA. And then there’s that 3.5 million strong petition, the self-organised European Citizens’ Initiative. Half a million of those signatures came from Britain, and Global Justice Now activists should be very proud of the work we all put into that.

Add to that stunts, protests, public meetings, letters to papers and a host of other things and you can see how TTIP, and now CETA, have gone from obscure to toxic Europe-wide.

That’s why Germany’s deputy chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, took a political gamble in September and dumped TTIP in order to give the European establishment the political capital to push CETA through. TTIP still isn’t officially dead of course, and CETA even less so, but there’s still a chance that Gabriel’s gamble will fail, and the EU will lose both deals. If it does, it will be thanks to a truly pan-European form of people power.

News from Global Justice Now Take Back Our World Scotland Sir Charles Wilson building, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ Saturday 28 January, 10am-6pm

If you live in Scotland, put CK A B Saturday 28 E LD TAK WORes January in your rselv OUeiR g ou wer n diary. Global Fre the po m o fr Justice Now is ig of b ess n i working with bus pm, m-6 28 a the Radical 0 1 rday Satu ary u n Jan Independence ilso f es W ersity o harl iv Sir C ing, Un 2 8QQ 1 d Campaign il bu gow, G s Gla to organise this one day conference in Glasgow with a great line-up of speakers. The event will feature talks, workshops and debates on how corporations are capturing the government, the media and the global commons; how politicians are aiding this by promoting neoliberal trade deals and privatisation; but also how communities and campaigners from around the world are successfully fighting this takeover. er nev dia e like iety t, the m igners soc a n and ernme amp over. s c e d v e liv n our ring go nities a this tak r been n o tu g u e grip cap comm fightin as nev the rich a s re e ha sa But essfully there h lleng ness oration mons. cc ge, busi cha Big re. Corp al com d are su l chan ed to d. is rl rl a b befo the glo the wo politic t organ Our Wo e and around of rapid e to g e Back nts e k m from period rtant ti e to Ta .uk/ev is rg o In th re imp l. It’s tim stice.o o u u a m powerf globalj t and info a More

The full programme and details of how to book tickets will be announced soon. To keep up with the latest information see globaljustice.org.uk/events or the Facebook event page which you can find via facebook.com/GlobalJusticeNowScotland

Action checklist

Media highlights

In October as part of the launch of our new campaign on pushing back on corporate power, we released new research showing that 69 out of the top 100 economies were now corporations rather than countries. The research was picked up by the Guardian, the Independent and the Express in the UK, as well as El Pais in Spain, the Wall Street Journal and news outlets in 20 other countries around the world.

At the time of writing, the CETA trade deal has being hanging on a knife edge. We’ve been putting out comments to support the region of Wallonia that has been putting a spanner in the works of the deal. These have been picked up in Common Space, The Ecologist, Common Dreams and the Morning Star and our letter was in the Guardian.

The new secretary for development Priti Patel has been making disturbing statements about the direction of UK aid money, and our critiques have been used by the Guardian and the i newspaper.

Facebook group

Don’t forget we have a Facebook group for Global Justice Now activists. It is proving a useful forum for sharing information across the network, from breaking campaign news to useful short videos. Join the group by searching ‘Global Justice Now activists’ in Facebook, or go to http://gju.st/2fjz52v

Food sovereignty

Decide if you want to put on a Monsanto photo exhibition

Trade justice

Organise a CETA campaign stall, stunt or other event (funding still available).

Write to your MEPs, arrange lobby meetings or a hustings.

Migration

Let the activism team know if you’re interested in the having difficult conversations training.

Decide if you’d like to screen Precarious Trajectories.

November 2016 3

Food sovereignty ‘Monsanto on trial’ events

Thank you to the groups who were involved in the Monsanto speaker tour in October. All five events were packed out and there was a lot of interest and engagement. Audience sizes were 150 in London, 150 in Bristol, 120 in Edinburgh, 100 in Manchester and 80 in Leeds. We managed to sign up some new members and there was lots of interest in local activism – particularly in Bristol.

The combination of the photo exhibition, Farida Akhter our Bangladeshi speaker and the samosas we bought as refreshments created a good formula for a buzzing event.

We will be releasing the photos in an online gallery in the next month, do share them on social media.

Hold your own photo exhibition The speaker tour was accompanied by a photo exhibition that we commissioned to show communities affected by corporate agriculture in India and Bangladesh. We are offering a mini version of the photo exhibition (on A3 photoboards) to groups and activists to hold your own exhibition. Some groups have already started using these.

There is an insert with this month’s Think Global so you can see what the photographs look like. If you want to order a photo exhibition pack, please email dan. iles@globaljustice.org.uk with your name, address and proposed date you need the photos.

The pack includes: • 10 x A3 photoboards with quality prints from the main exhibition.

• 1 x A3 introduction board explaining the photo exhibition-10 A5 caption cards.

• Guidance on matching the captions to the photos.

• An information sheet on how to organise local events.

4 November 2016

The Monsanto Tribunal

After the Monsanto speaker tour, members of the campaigns team travelled with Farida Akhter to The Hague where she was giving evidence to the Monsanto Tribunal. Farida was one of 30 witnesses giving a testimony of the damage that Monsanto has done to their lives and livelihoods. We heard witnesses from Burkina Faso, India, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Argentina and Brazil, all testifying to the impact that Monsanto’s control over the food system has had on them.

We also took part in the people’s assembly, a gathering of civil society groups, which happened alongside the tribunal. This was a good opportunity to meet activists and campaigners resisting corporate agriculture from across the globe. We heard about the growing resistance to corporate seed laws in countries around the world.

New Alliance action cards

Please continue to use these where you can to keep up the pressure on the international development select committee to call for an inquiry into the New Alliance.

European food sovereignty gathering At the end of October two Global Justice Now campaigners joined a UK delegation to the 2nd European food sovereignty gathering in Romania. This gathering will bring together over 500 participants from 42 countries across Europe and Central Asia.

The gathering was a unique opportunity to meet with other activists, campaigners and growers who are working on exciting projects and activities across Europe. Alongside them we will be able to build a strong European movement for food sovereignty.

Photos from the London leg of our Monsanto exhibition tour with Farida Akhter (above left)

November 2016 5

Trade justice CETA in trouble

Think Global went to press amid at a particularly uncertain time for CETA. The government of Wallonia, the Frenchspeaking region of Belgium, had blocked Belgium from agreeing to CETA at the European Council meeting (the body of the EU which is direct representatives of EU national governments). It was able to do so because of Belgium’s federal system and was motivated to do so because Wallonia has been a clear loser out of globalisation over the last few decades, and the governing Socialist Party (the Belgian equivalent of Labour) has understood that the political mood there is against another free trade deal.

However, after holding out for a week and ruining the official timeline for the European Council to agree CETA, Wallonia finally agreed to lift their block. In doing so, however, they extracted a document from the Belgian government which included an undertaking to ask the European Court of Justice to rule on the legality of the corporate court system within CETA. At the time of writing the full document was still being analysed.

It’s very possible, however, that the document will result in more than one stumbling block for CETA down the line. For instance, MEPs may end up being asked to vote on CETA while the legality of the corporate court system is still up in the air.

available to groups who want to jazz up their stall or plan a stunt. Get in touch with Ed about this: ed.lewis@globaljustice.org.uk. You can also find the online action to email your MEPs at http://bit.ly/2evvzNK - you could send this to your mailing list, Facebook page etc.

You can also write to MEPs and try to arrange to meet them to discuss CETA. Remember you can have as many as 10 MEPs (if you live in the South East outside London). Find their addresses on the European parliament website: europarl.org.uk/en/your-meps Organising a public event with a number of your MEPs can also be a useful way to put pressure on them. Manchester have one lined up for 10 November.

We need to target Labour, SNP and Conservative MEPs especially, but every one of them should get a feeling of the mood among their constituents against CETA! The European parliament is scheduled for a vote on CETA at some point in December or January, although that timetable is threatened by the current hold ups.

SNP conference demo Marking the beginning of the Europe-wide ‘CETA week’ of action in October, Global Justice Glasgow organised a ‘Stop CETA’

What’s certain is that we need to continue to pressure MEPs as we have been doing so far, to put us in the best position to defeat CETA in the European parliament.

Keep the pressure on MEPs Please keep using the CETA postcards and order more if you need them (we’ve reprinted them along with the fold-out leaflets). Then send them back to us quickly so we can deliver them. There is still money 6 November 2016

Global Justice Glasgow’s anti-CETA protest outside the SNP conference

New activism guides Working with our friends in Campaign Against Arms Trade, we’ve produced some new, updated guides to help local campaigners. We hope they will be useful to a wide range of activist groups, rather than just being aimed at those in Global Justice Now’s groups network. The guides cover most of the key activities which local groups might find themselves doing, from basic organising to chairing a public meeting.

For now you can find them online at globaljustice.org.uk/activist-resources There are a few more still to come, and when those are finished we’ll send printed versions out to groups and anyone who wants them.

demonstration outside the SNP conference.

Featuring activists dressed as corporate rats and a banner with demands for a ‘people’s trade deal’, the demo attracted a lot of interested SNP members coming to their party’s conference. Trade justice activists from across Scotland joined the demo, and we got some great pictures that made a splash on social media, including an article in the online news service CommonSpace.

Steve Rolfe, chair of Global Justice Glasgow, wrote an blog post on the demonstration and the SNP’s position on CETA. Read it at globaljustice.org.uk/blog

BITs, Brexit and other trade deals

There’s a whole number of bilateral Investment treaties (BITs), mostly including ISDS (the corporate courts system).

Overwhelmingly the BITs are between the UK and poorer countries, and a lot of them are up for renewal (and are hopelessly out of date). We have teamed up with the Trade Justice Movement and War on Want to call for these deals to be scrapped. There will be an email action on this during November.

New staff member

Alex Scrivener has taken a year’s sabbatical and Jean Blaylock as started as policy officer in his stead. Jean will be mainly be working on our trade policy work for the year she’s here. Contact her via jean.blaylock@ globaljustice.org.uk

Perhaps counter-intuitively, the push for CETA from our government is part of the hardBrexit strategy, an attempt to introduce more corporate influence and control. There will be a similar attempt to keep the UK in TISA, the Trade in Services Agreement, which we will be opposing.

November 2016 7

Corporate power other work we’re already doing). We will be consulting groups on the initial proposals for this in due course.

Aid

AIsha and Kahra hand in corporate impunity petition to 10 Downing Street

UN treaty petition

In October, we handed in a petition signed by more than eight thousand people to Number 10, asking the government to take part in negotiations for a binding UN treaty to hold corporation to account for human rights abuses. Across the EU more than 90,000 people joined the campaign. This collective pressure from groups across Europe led to the the EU (including UK) agreeing to take part in the Geneva UN negotiations which took place in the last week of October. Lots of organisations working on it Two staff members travelled to Geneva along with campaigners and civil society groups from all over the world.

Representatives from communities who have suffered under the hands of corporations gave statements to the UN panel along with experts on human rights and corporate law.

An international treaty to stop corporate impunity is still a long way off. But having the EU back at the negotiation table is a big step in the right direction.

Morten Thaysen, who unti recently worked in our communications team, has just started as a policy and campaigns officer. His job will be to develop a wider campaign on corporate power, which the demand for a UN treaty will fit into (as well as some of the 8 November 2016

You may remember our campaign against NIAF - a UK aid backed scheme to privatise Nigeria’s energy sector - implemented by the consultancy firm Adam Smith International.

As the projects funding cycle came to an end earlier this year, we submitted formal evidence to the UK parliament’s International Development Select Committee inquiry into Nigeria earlier this year.

The official UK government response to the inquiry was published this October and it agreed with many of the arguments we made about the scheme. We argued that the lifeline tariff (a special rate for the very poorest of households) was almost meaningless as it covered far too few households, and that in reality NIAF had led to price increases for most poor households which had negative effects on poverty reduction.

We are continuing our work on ensuring UK aid is not spent on harmful schemes such as privatisation of public services, more important than ever given the appointment of Priti Patel as the new international development secretary.

We had a successful event at the Labour party conference to discuss what an alternative radical aid policy could look like with Diane Abbott as a guest speaker and we are working with an external researcher to produce a report that will outline a positive vision for aid that can genuinely contribute to a more just world.

Migration As events develop after the referendum, the need to stand up for migrant rights is only becoming more urgent. The most recent furore after a backbench Concervative MP proposed dental checks for refugees from the Calais camp – a derisory number of whom are being accepted by the UK – is indicative of the climate we’re working in.

The campaigns team is researching the best focus for our longer term campaign work, but in the meantime the work some groups have been doing on trying to change the narrative is a very useful contribution.

‘Precarious Trajectories’ – film screening opportunity We have developed a relationship with a research project called Precarious Trajectories, which looks at the experiences of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean. They have produced a documentary of the same name, which it is possible for Global Justice Now groups to screen.

It is a powerful and informative film which has had very positive responses at previous screenings. However, since the film is not yet on general release we have to ask permission for each screening (we are hoping this will become a formality). A possible date for a screening is Sunday 18 December, which is international migrants day.

If your group would be interested in a screening then email ed.lewis@ globaljustice.org.uk. More information at precarioustrajectories.wordpress.com.

Having difficult conversations training In the October Think Global Extra we mentioned an opportunity for a workshop/

training event that we are collaborating with Hope Not Hate on. Here is a more detailed outline: Learn the tools needed to have difficult conversations around immigration, and other topics where well-informed debate is in short supply. This session focuses on how to listen and question effectively, how to use stories to effectively persuade people, and how to create spaces for more constructive communication around difficult issues.

This session includes: • Who are we talking to and mapping the national conversation • Introducing the spectrum of support • The limits of myth-busting and the power of narrative • Introducing the techniques of empathetic listening and Socratic questioning • Action role play About the workshop leaders: Tatiana Garavito is Colombian and is Hope Not Hate’s national organiser for for people from migrant and refugee backgrounds.

Tom Godwin is the lead organiser in Wales for HOPE not hate, focusing on areas of high UKIP support, particularly post-industrial working class communities in South Wales.

A number of groups have already expressed interest in the training – do let us know if your group may be interested in this as well. We have also received a number of questions from groups – we will be emailing the relevant group contacts as soon as possible with additional information, following further discussion with Hope Not Hate.

We’ve also sent out over 1,000 mini campaign packs which are aimed at individuals who have taken action online and are interested in going a bit further towards offline activism.

November 2016 9

Groups and activism news In both September and October, Global Justice Merseyside ran successful stalls in Liverpool city centre campaigning against CETA. Group members had a very positive experience helping to run the Global Justice Now stall at The World Transformed, the Momentum-led conference during the Labour Party conference, attracting interest in the group from local people. Hannah from the group travelled to Johannesburg to present a paper on farmer-worker alliances, drawing partly on GJN research. Group members are also lobbying their MP Louise Ellman on climate change since the Paris COP. Global Justice Reading organised an antiCETA stall with a ‘lucky dip’ format. They have also organised a speaker event with the investigative journalist Claire Provost, focusing on how companies sue states – beyond TTIP and CETA. They are also exhibiting the Monsanto photos at the Reading International Festival.

Global Justice St Albans has had a busy month. They held a stall focused on refugees at an Oxfam sponsored walk and another one at a local festival, focusing on food sovereignty. They found that people were more open to discussing food sovereignty than issues related to refugees, though they did take away material. They are planning to show the Monsanto on Trial mini photo exhibition in a local cafe as part of Sustainable St Albans week in November.

to consider the issue, and they have been distributing anti-CETA materials at sympathetic meetings and venues.

A recent Global Justice Shropshire stall

Global Justice Shropshire had a stall where they got people to sign a Cornish pastythemed anti-CETA poster which was sent to Andrea Mcintyre, a Conservative West Midlands MEP. Global Justice Bristol helped to organise the Monsanto meeting, with a group member chairing the event. A group member also organised an anti-CETA stall.

Global Justice Bexhill and Hastings organised a delegation of members, representing a variety of campaigning groups, to lobby

Global Justice Cambridge ran a stall at the Cherry Hinton Village Festival using Corporate Monopoly, and held a group meeting addressed by James O’Nions on Brexit, which was very favourably received.

Global Justice Manchester hosted a Monsanto on Trial meeting at the University of Manchester. They also handed in a TTIP Free Zone petition to the council with enough signatures to force the committee 10 November 2016

The final leg of our Monsanto tour in Bristol

Youth network off to a flying start Melissa Céspedes del Sur, our new youth network co-ordinator, reports on a busy two months.

In the last edition of Think Global we introduced the Global Justice Now youth network: a space for under 28s to organise with us.

Over the past two months, we have been focusing on spreading the word and building our reputation among young people, and we are pleased to say that our experiment is going well.

We have done outreach in freshers’ fairs at universities in Manchester, London, Liverpool, and Leeds. From this, we were able to hold two training events during October, both of which help set the groundwork for groups to develop. We got 30 people to the Manchester one and around 50 in London.

their local MP on climate change. They also organised a speaker event on migration at which they filled the venue. It was an effective awareness-raiser and some new people signed up to the network.

Global Justice Leicester ran a stall at the CND Garden Party in September - where CETA and Monsanto material was well received. They also organised two further showings of This Changes Everything in Groby arranged by local environmentalists, attracting 40 people.

We have also started the London edition of Demand the Impossible, a course for 16-25 year olds about political ideas and activism, which this year is a series of evening sessions spread across several months. The first session, Disunited Kingdom, was open to all and had 130 participants. It focused on the state of the UK and the position of young people within it.

Speaking to hundreds of young people in schools, universities, and events across the UK did a lot to dispel the myth that they don’t care. In fact, we noticed they had a real desire to make their voices heard, and we are excited to continue working on the youth network in the coming months. Get in touch with me if you are interested in joining or starting a group. youth.network@globaljustice.org.uk

Global Justice Macclesfield organised a well-attended talk, ‘Bridges not Borders: A progressive response to the migration crisis’ with James O’Nions. This covered the wider political causes of the crisis, the local initiative to welcome and support refugees and discussion how to counter negative narratives around immigration and refugees.

Global Justice Glasgow organised a theatrical protest outside SNP conference (see page 6).

Global Justice Nottingham had a stall at the Green Festival. There was a lot of take up of the CETA action cards, and the fact that we are trying to reframe the narrative round migration was well received.

The London Action Network organised a well-attended stall on CETA near a hospital in Hampstead, focusing on the threat posed to public services by CETA. Global Justice Glasgow’s anti-CETA protest

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Current materials Food sovereignty

• ACTION CARD: Two ways to grow food • BRIEFING: Growing evidence against the New Alliance • BOOKLET: On Solid Ground (agroecology) • REPORT: From The Roots Up (agroecology) • POSTER: Colonial infographic poster • BOOKLET: Stop the corporate takeover of African food • BRIEFING: Problems with corporate controlled seeds

Energy justice

• LEAFLET: Give corporate controlled energy the boot • BRIEFING: Towards a just energy system • BRIEFING: 10 reasons why energy privatisation fails

Trade

• LEAFLET/POSTER: if you lIked TTIP you’ll love CETA • ACTION CARD: Stop he toxic trade deal (CETA) • UPDATED BRIEFING: CETA: TTIP’s little brother • BRIEFING: Five reasons TTIP and CETA are a disaster for the climate.

• REPORT: TTIP and tax justice • PRAYER PACK: TTIP and trade justice • BRIEFING: The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership • BRIEFING: Regulatory Cooperation • TTIP Free Zone campaign pack: POSTER, BADGE and LEAFLET • BRIEFING: Campaigning on TTIP in local authorities • POSTER: There’s nothing beautiful about TTIP (TTIP and chemicals in cosmetics) • TOTE BAG: TTIP ain’t my Bag

Migration

• LEAFLET/POSTER: This is not a migrant crisis • BRIEFING: Migrant crisis or poverty crisis

Event t-shirts We now have new branded t-shirts in stock. They have the logo in white front and back on dark grey material, which stands out on stalls or at events.

In order to help cover costs, including postage, we’re asking for £5 per t-shirt, or three t-shirts for £10. They are available in Small, Medium, Large, XL and XXL. To order some, phone 020 7820 4900 to make a card payment, or send a cheque to: Sam LundHarket, Global Justice Now, 66 Offley Road, London SW9 0LS

Exploring alternatives booklets

• BOOKLET: Another Economy is Possible economic democracy • BOOKLET: Seeds of Change - food sovereignty • BOOKLET: Rays of Hope - energy justice

General materials

• LEAFLET: Join a local group leaflet (can be overprinted with groups’ contact details) • SIGN-UP SHEET: Double-sided, Global Justice Now branded • STICKERS and BADGES • LEAFLET: ‘There is No Alternative’ membership leaflet