Think Global, October 2020

THINK GLOBAL

Act locally with Global Justice Now

October 2020 

Contents 02 Welcome 03 News from Global Justice Now 04 Trade justice 07 Aid watch 08 Access to medicine 10 Climate justice 11 Debt cancellation Scottish activities 12 Groups and activism news

We can defeat the US trade deal, whoever is in the White House James O’Nions Activism team This November, the US presidential election offers Americans a stark choice. Yet while the rest of us don’t get even get that choice, we will surely be affected by the results.

On the most basic level, Trump’s rejection of multilateralism makes the world a more dangerous place. Pulling funding for the World Health Organisation in the middle of a pandemic is a case in point. And there is little doubt his election gave and gives confidence and succour to some of the most odious characters in global politics, from Bolsonaro in Brazil to Duterte in the Philippines.

In the UK there is little doubt that Trump’s continuing presidency will make it easier for Johnson’s government to strike a trade deal with the US. Trump sees ideological allies in the Brexiteers, and knows a US-UK trade deal will help him undermine the European Union.

Yet when it comes to the detail of the deal, it is US corporations pushing for chlorinated chicken, access to the NHS and much more. Those corporate lobbyists got a sympathetic hearing from the Trump administration, but they will still be around should Biden win in November. TTIP, the failed US-EU deal, was an Obama era initiative after all, and while Biden faces a very different political context, he still comes from the same stable. Our main advantage with Biden will not be that he’s opposed to a trade deal with the UK, but that it will not be such a political priority for him. That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t happen.

Inserts Trade

• Leaflet: Stop the US trade deal • Game for use on stalls (groups only) • QR code display for stalls 2 October 2020

The deal has actually faced significant opposition in the UK, not just from Johnson’s usual opponents, but also from farmers and in the pages of the Daily Mail. Polling suggests a huge majority of the public in general don’t want to see standards undermined by the deal. That means our strategy has to be to continue to make the deal more and more toxic, forcing the government to make concessions to UK public opinion that eventually make the deal not worth doing for US corporations.

Our day of action against the deal on 24 October (see page 4) will be a chance to say loudly and clearly, whoever wins the US election, we don’t want a trade deal.

News from Global Justice Now Media highlights

Heidi Chow has been quoted widely on access to the coronavirus vaccine, including regularly in the Independent, in a Guardian letter and on the Telegraph website.

Nick Dearden also wrote for the Guardian on big pharma and the pandemic, while our work was also quoted in the Scotsman and the National. There was an article about Luigi Ceccaroni, the vaccine trial volunteer who has worked with us on AstraZeneca, in Huffington Post, and he had a comment piece published in OpenDemocracy.

Nick has been frequently quoted on the USUK trade deal, and has written articles for the Church Times, Open Democracy, Guardian, and Independent. Extracts from Nick’s book have been published in Tribune, the Ecologist and Fabian Review, and he has spoken about the book on podcasts/webinars with Another Europe Is Possible, Open Democracy and The World Transformed. Other US trade deal coverage has included a letter in Prospect, articles in Computer Weekly, and

Action checklist

letters in the local paper from members in Southampton and Bournemouth.

Our aid campaign featured in a front page story in the Times on further aid money being spent on luxury hotels in August. Our research into fossil fuel financing through development bank CDC was reported in the Guardian in June, and Daniel Willis had an article in the Ecologist. Our reaction to the scrapping of DfID was widely quoted in June.

On debt, Nick was quoted in the Guardian on Argentina’s debt, and wrote articles for New Internationalist and Tribune on debt and Covid-19. On activism, James O’Nions was interviewed by ITV News on how to protest in a Covid-safe way.

Contacting the activism team

The Global Justice Now London office is currently open in a limited way, with a few staff usually in each day. The best way to get hold of the activism team (Effie, Guy, Sam and James) is by email, either our personal emails or activism@globaljustice.org.uk.

The main office phone is on a redirect to allow it to be answered on a rota by staff working from home. That means you can’t just be ‘put through’ to us, but either leave a message or email us your number and we’re happy to call you back to discuss things. We can generally send out materials, but it may take a little longer than normal.

Trade justice Plan an activity for the US trade deal day of action on 24 October.

Invite a Global Justice Now campaigner to speak about one of our campaigns at your meeting.

Meetings If your group hasn’t been meeting because of the coronavirus, consider contacting the activism team for help with meeting online.

Climate justice Write to your MP about ending UK financial support for fossil fuels overseas.

October 2020 3

Trade justice

Things are moving fast with the US trade deal negotiations at the moment. The fourth round of trade talks with the US has just concluded. As ever, the secrecy around them is extreme but Liz Truss, the trade minister, has said that negotiations are in “advanced stages” and that negotiators were “in the process of consolidating texts in the majority of chapter areas”.

Nick has been speaking at various events about his book (see opposite page), including at The World Transformed, which was an online festival this year. Groups have variously held webinars and street stalls about the US deal, and banner drops are already planned in a couple of places.

As always, we can help with speakers for webinars, materials for stalls and banners – contact guy.taylor@globaljustice.org.uk The UK has also agreed a trade deal with Japan. This now goes to the Japanese parliament, the Diet, which needs to vote on it in a ratification process that will take up to the end of the year. The UK parliament by contrast is not guaranteed a vote and the deal can be ratified in 21 working days.

4 October 2020

US deal day of action

Plans for the day of action against the US trade deal on 24 October 2020 are shaping up. As we wrote last time, with negotiations having speeded up in the past few months, we think we need to take the next step of coming together in a day of action.

Many of our allies are on board – the day is being supported by Keep Our NHS Public, War on Want, Traidcraft, We Own It, Open Rights Group, SumOfUs, Compassion in World Farming, Another Europe is Possible and the Stop Trump Coalition.

We’re campaigning in pandemic times and things are changing fast, so this day of action will be a mix of things you can do from home, virtual online events and ideas for socially distant action outside on the streets when possible. We’ll keep the plans under review as we get closer to the time. At the moment, this is the plan – there’s a bit of a Halloween theme!

From home Carve a pumpkin lantern to say ‘Stop US deal’ (or the full ‘Stop the US trade deal’ if

Trade Secrets In August we launched Nick Dearden’s short book Trade Secrets: The truth about the US trade deal and how we can stop it. Even though we were making it available for free, we weren’t expecting to send out over 2,000 printed copies, with hundreds more distributed in the ebook format (right).

We’re still got some printed copies left.

You can order them, or get hold of the pdf, ebook or simple webpages version of the book on our special microsite at tradesecrets.globaljustice.org.uk

you can get it on the pumpkin!) and display it in your window or at your door on the day.

If you aren’t able to carve a lantern, you could put up a simple window poster.

Take a photo of yourself holding a message saying ‘Stop the US trade deal’. The message could just be on a piece of paper, could be a pumpkin lantern or some other creative way. You could even wear a Halloween costime! Send your photo to activism@ globaljustice.org.uk and if you are on social media, share it there too.

Socially distanced on the street Holding a stall is a good way to raise awareness of the dangers of the US trade deal in your community. You could: Put a pumpkin lantern on the stall. Ideally carve the lantern with ‘Stop US deal’ (or the full ‘Stop the US trade deal’ if you can get it on the pumpkin!). However if that is too complicated, then an ordinary lantern face will still help draw attention to the stall.

Take photos of people with the pumpkin then send them to activism@globaljustice. org.uk and share on social media. For this, you either need to be able to display the pumpkin in such a way that people can stand next to it for the photo and don’t have to touch it, or you need to be able to wipe it down with sanitiser between each person. If you haven’t been able to carve a pumpkin with a trade message, then you could use a poster or placard for people to have their photos taken with.

Run a guessing game (enclosed for groups and linked below) about the differences between the US and the UK on food standards, pesticides, chemicals in cosmetics and medicine prices.

Holding a stall at the moment does need to be done carefully, to be socially distant.

More advice on this is at the link below.

If you are a member of a local political party, union branch, residents’ association, student union or other similar organisation, see if you can propose a motion to get the organisation to speak out against the US trade deal. Many such organisations are meeting virtually at present, so this is something that can be done from home. We have a template motion you can use and adapt (see link below).

You can also join the online evening rally we’re planning (more details soon).

Global Justice Reading gave out 200 leaflets on the US trade deal at the local farmers’ market

October 2020 5

on the testimony of a former trade official, who described the government’s approach as “at the far end of the secrecy spectrum.”

Trade Bill

The Trade Bill continues through the Lords.

We’ve worked with Lib Dem and Labour peers who have put down amendments that would give parliament a vote on trade deals. Supporters have been writing to peers urging them to back the amendments, and there is a good chance they will be passed when the bill reaches report stage (which we anticipate may be in mid October). If we can again succeed in amending the bill in the Lords, the government will then try and overturn the amendment in the Commons and our job will be to defend it.

If your group wants to borrow this 1m x 3.5m banner, get in touch with Guy Taylor: guy.taylor@globaljustice.org.uk

In London If you’re in London, we’re hoping to hold a socially distanced protest in central London with colourful Halloween stunts.

More information, with links to action ideas and advice on meeting Covid regulations is at: globaljustice.org.uk/24oct

Secrecy

Our court case against the government has concluded, with the Information Tribunal ruling that the government failed to disclose important information about its post-Brexit trade talks, and ordering the Department for International Trade (DIT) to provide more details about its trade negotiations.

While not giving us everything we asked for, the ruling paints a critical picture of the DIT’s lack of transparency, noting a government representative had shown a “clear inability to provide answers on many points of detail” and that the department had failed to deal with aspects of the case in a “detailed and rigorous way”. Significant weight was placed 6 October 2020

Key resources Trade Secrets Nick’s short book on the US trade deal (August 2020). Order it or read at tradesecrets.globaljustice.org.uk Stop the US trade deal Window poster Stop the US trade deal A5 leaflet Download or order copies by emailing activism@globaljustice.org.uk Organising locally against the US trade deal Online guide, find it via globaljustice.org.uk/trade US-UK trade deal: Threats to the NHS and drug pricing Three-page briefing (2020) What’s at risk in Scotland from a US-UK trade deal? Short booklet (July 2020) Five reasons modern trade deals are terrible for the climate Four-page briefing (August 2019) Trading with Trump 2017 briefing Contact us to order these or find them at globaljustice.org.uk/resources

Aid watch The new FCDO

Despite the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) now being officially in charge of the UK aid budget, there is still little clarity on what the full implications of the merger will be for the future of development.

We have been co-ordinating with allies across the sector and in parliament to try and ensure a degree of continuing aid scrutiny. Despite being slated for dissolution earlier in the summer, both parliament’s International Development Committee (IDC) and independent watchdog (the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, ICAI, which has previously been critical of UK aid under the Conservatives) will be maintained, at least temporarily.

However, the government has also ordered a review of how ICAI operates, and the IDC seems likely to last only as long as that review does. It seems the government is intent on reducing scrutiny of how it spends development funds under its ‘Global Britain’ agenda.

One reason for that might be that the prime minister is rumoured to be considering changes to the International Development Act 2002, which enshrined the requirement for UK aid to demonstrably contribute to poverty reduction into law. In a recent session with parliament’s Liaison Committee, Boris Johnson said that he would “reserve [his] position on amending the act” for now but that he did think aid should be spent in pursuit of the UK’s interests, “and indeed the commercial, the employment, the jobs interests of the UK”.

CDC group

Another reason the government doesn’t want too much attention on its aid policy right now is that it is still planning to transfer over a billion pounds in UK aid to

its development bank, CDC Group, in the next two years despite the organisation’s appalling record on aid transparency and effectiveness. Updated government figures show that some of these payments will come slightly later than originally planned.

However, with £2.9 billion of cuts to aid expected next year, campaigners had been calling for no further capital to be given to CDC so that vital public health programmes could be protected from cuts instead.

Taking action

You can help by writing to your MP, either as a group or individually, to express your concern about the future direction of aid and aid scrutiny under the FCDO, using information from our briefing. We already have a petition to the prime minister on this issue which could also help you to formulate a letter.

You could also organise a local Zoom meeting with our campaigner Daniel Willis (daniel.willis@globaljustice.org.uk) to hear more about the corporate takeover of aid as Global Justice Cambridge did recently.

Their feedback was that it was “well worth recommending to other groups”.

Key resources The Future of Aid after DfID Shocking development projects supported by the UK. Four-page briefing (July 2020).

Doing More Harm Than Good 40-page report on CDC group (February 2020).

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

October 2020 7

Access to medicine

Above and right: Students from Universities Alliied for Essential Medicines on a ‘carnival protest’ around central London universities to demand a patent-free coronavirus vaccine.

Our pharmaceuticals campaign continues to focus on the urgent issue of securing access to treatments, testing and any vaccines that are developed for Covid-19 for people globally. In particular we are working with allies to demand vaccine justice for the global south.

The UK government has not joined this pool and so we have updated our e-action to build up public pressure on the UK government to join, coinciding with the WHO appeal to governments to support it. If you haven’t taken the action yet, you can find it here: globaljustice.org.uk/ctap

Supporting the global pool

AstraZeneca and Oxford Uni

So far only 40 countries have joined, but the WHO is now promoting the C-TAP to governments. This pool will help to prevent corporate monopolies, expand manufacturing capacity and ensure affordable prices for all countries.

We wrote an open letter to AstraZeneca in May and we received a response which did not address our concerns or demands.

Working with our ally Just Treatment, we are

In May, the World Health Organisation launched a global pooling mechanism.

Proposed by Costa Rica, the Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) provides a global platform to facilitate open sharing of knowledge, data and intellectual property for all Covid-19 health tools. This will enable all countries to openly access treatments and vaccines needed to save lives.

8 October 2020

A lot of public money has been pumped into the well-publicised vaccine development collaboration between AstraZeneca and Oxford University. Yet the deal they signed remains secret, and it isn’t clear whether AstraZeneca will have exclusive control over the vaccine once developed. We are not only demanding transparency, but also that the company share the vaccine with C-TAP to enable other manufacturers to make it and maximise global production.

now trying to arrange a meeting with the AstraZenca CEO and people who have had Covid-19 or people who have lost relatives to Covid-19. We are hoping to use this meeting or the refusal of a meeting as part of our media strategy.

If you have had Covid-19 or have lost relatives to Covid-19 and would like to be involved in this meeting, please can you email: heidi.chow@globaljustice.org.uk We’re also expecting to ask groups and supporters to help put pressure on AstraZeneca later this year.

The People’s Vaccine

We have recently joined the People’s Vaccine global alliance. This is an informal coalition of organisations and individuals building pressure for an effective vaccine based on shared knowledge which is freely available to everyone everywhere. Members of the alliance include Oxfam, UNAIDS and Médecins Sans Frontières.

We are hoping that this global collaboration will help to multiply the demands of our campaign across the world to put pressure on national and international decision makers.

In collaboration with this coalition, we helped to co-ordinate a global open letter from Covid-19 survivors, people who are in high risk groups and those who have lost relatives to coincide with the UN General Assembly.

The letter is addressed to the pharmaceutical industry and calls on pharmaceutical companies to support and join C-TAP. The letter got 942 signatories from 57 countries.

Getting the word out

We haven’t produced any physical resources for campaigning around Covid-19 vaccines and treatments so far because of the relatively few stalls being done. However, this doesn’t mean there’re nothing groups can do. Our senior campaigner Heidi Chow

is very happy to speak at online group meetings. Email her to set something up, heidi.chow@globaljustice.org.uk, or contact the activism team for help with setting up an onlne meeting. You can get hold of us via activism@globaljustice.org.uk or leave a message with someone on our main number, 020 7820 4900, and we’ll call you back.

Key resources A Covid-19 vaccine should be affordable for all Four-page briefing (March 2020).

Letter calling on the government to support the Covid-19 vaccines pool.

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

October 2020 9

Climate justice COP26

The coaltion of campaign groups which we’re part of in the run up to the UN climate talks in Glasgow next year is planning a major online conference this November, around the time when COP26 should have been held.

There’s also a series of weekly introductory workshops happening right now. Follow the coaliton on social media for more: facebook.com/cop26coalition twitter.com/COP26_Coalition instagram.com/cop26coalition

UK fossil fuel finance

There have been further encouraging signs in recent weeks that the government is close to announcing an end to all UK financing of fossil fuels via the aid budget and UK Export Finance before COP26 next year. It would be the first country to make such an announcement, making this a huge win for everyone involved in the campaign. So thank you again for all of your support!

That being said, it is important to push the government to make this announcement as soon as possible to prevent any rowing back and to ensure good ambition for COP26 is set as early as possible. In September we initiated a mass social media action encouraging the prime minister to use his opportunities to speak at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to announce the change, whilst also working behind the scenes to increase pressure on the government.

Unfortunately he didn’t do this, so the announcement could be delayed until the Finance in Common Summit in November, or even until next year 10 October 2020

It is also worth noting that, even after the announcement is made, we will still be campaigning for the UK to divest from its existing fossil fuel support and step up its financial support for a just energy transition. CDC Group, the UK’s development bank, claimed it in July it would stop fossil fuel investments, but has now announced that it would not divest from existing investments and could make indirect investments in fossil fuels up to 2022. Clearly we need to keep up the pressure.

Take action We need your help to remind the government that this policy needs to be changed now. Raising this issue with your MP, of whatever party, could be important contact daniel.willis@globaljustice.org.uk for advice and a template letter.

You could also organise a Zoom meeting with your local Global Justice Now or XR group or trade union branch with Daniel Willis (daniel.willis@globaljustice.org.uk) to hear more about the UK’s financial backing for overseas fossil fuels.

If you’re on Twitter, you can tweet the prime minister encouraging him to make the announcement. For example: You can’t claim to be a ‘climate leader’ while pouring billions of pounds of public money into fossil fuels. @BorisJohnson - it’s time to announce that the UK will #StopFundingFossils as soon as possible! https://act.globaljustice.org.uk/primeminister-stop-funding-fossil-fuels-overseas Please also share the online supporter action with an explanation on social media.

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

Debt cancellation The IMF and World Bank annual meetings are taking place from 12-18 October, and debt is a major discussion point. Thank you very much to everyone who is meeting their MP over the next two weeks as part of our push to get the UK government to back debt cancellation. We are optimistic that there will be at least an extension of the 2020 debt suspension coming out of the meetings, but there remains a big gap between the severity of the economic crisis in the global south and the level of support being offered.

We are due to release some new research on the private lenders profiting out of the crisis that week, and global debt movements will be holding a week of action. Keep an eye on our website and social media for developments and reaction. Our main action is still to promote our petition: globaljustice.org.uk/debt Exiting the permanent crisis in the global south Eight-page briefing (April 2020).

Passing the buck on debt relief How the failure of the private sector to cancel debts is fueling a crisis. Joint paper with JDC and others (July 2020).

Drop Debt, Save Lives Supporter toolkit.

Scottish activities Just and Green Recovery week of action 4-11 November

Global Justice Now is one of 80 members of the Just and Green Recovery coalition calling on the Scottish government to make the economic recovery from this pandemic green, fair and internationally just. The coalition is holding a week of action calling for the Scottish government to outline ambitious recovery plans that work for people and planet in the Scottish budget.

Alongside plans for local socially distanced protests we are planning to help groups of campaigners to lobby their MSPs in face-toface meetings on zoom during the week.

Ahead of the week of action there will also be a training webinar, and an informationsharing webinar introducing the five strands of the campaign and allow campaigners to talk together about the issues.

This is a great opportunity to link in with campaigners from different sections of civil society, campaigning for social justice. If you’d like to get involved, email the Scottish staff team thorn.house@globaljustice.org.uk

Scottish events The corporate takeover of global health – and how to stop it!

Webinar, Thursday 15 October, 7pm–8.30pm With Global Justice Now’s Nick Dearden and Umunyana Rugege, campaigner for access to medicines in South Africa. Part of the Edinburgh World Justice Festival Stop the US trade deal: Scotland organising meeting Wednesday 7 October, 7.30pm–9pm More information and register for these and other events at globaljustice.org.uk/events October 2020 11

Global Justice South East London have been meeting fortnightly since the start of lockdown and are continuing to do so. They’ve found this suits them better than meeting in a noisy pub, and ensures members who are shielding can take part too. They’ve had a focus on educating themselves and letter writing.

Local groups and activism news

Global Justice Reading gave out 200 of the new US trade deal leaflet at the local farmers’ market, where their focus on food standards was well received. They also got a good turnout for their first online public meeting in September where speakers from Global Justice Now, Keep Our NHS Public and the GMB union spoke about the threat of the US trade deal.

Global Justice Central London also took the US trade deal campaign to a farmers’ market, this time in Walthamstow (picture below).

Global Justice Portsmouth have been preparing for One World Week (www.oneworldweek.org) in October with a focus on climate and a green recovery. They’re organising joint events with other groups locally.

global south, with Dorothy Guerrero from Global Justice Now and Andy Higginbottom from the Colombia Solidarity Campaign. They also handed out US trade deal leaflets at an Extinction Rebellion protest in Manchester.

Global Justice Nottingham has been meeting over Zoom, and with some assistance from the office has had a banner against the US trade deal made, which they plan to use during October.

A member of Global Justice Richmond and Kingston has set up a new website and blog about tax havens as a resource for those opposing them. Find it at https:// onshoreresident.wordpress.com

Global Justice Manchester held a webinar on trade, climate change and the

Our campaigner Daniel Willis spoke to the Global Justice Cambridge online group meeting on the direction of aid spending under Johnson’s government.

There aren’t many freshers’ fairs happening this year, but Anglia Ruskin University is one of the exceptions, where the new Global Justice Cambridge Youth group ran a stall (see photo above).

Youth network groups will be running online workshops throughout October, with the Leeds youth group doing a screening of Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything via Zoom.