Think Global September 2017

THINK GLOBAL

Act locally with Global Justice Now

September 2017 

Contents 02 Welcome 03 News roundup 04 Trade democracy 06 Corporate power / Pharmaceuticals 08 Migrant solidarity 09 Aidwatch and Brexit 10 Groups and activism news 12 Current materials

Inserts Migration

• Paddington Bear badge

Trade

• Twenty ways to fight for trade democracy

Aid

• Re-imagining Aid full report (groups only) • Re-imaging Aid executive summary

General

• Consultation reportback (groups only)

Pharmaceuticals

• Postcard /scratchcard • Postcard ‘how to’ (groups only) • Campaign leaflet • Campaign poster • Campaign pack briefings 2 September 2017

Liam Fox and the chickens that came home to roost James O’Nions Head of activism “Liam Fox refuses to say he would eat a chlorine-washed chicken” was the headline in the Sun – hardly the start to US-UK trade deal talks that the trade secretary wanted.

In fact he had earlier accused the media of being “obsessed” with chlorinated chicken and the potential for the US-UK to force us to lower food safety standards. But the furore tells us a few things about the potential for our trade campaign. First that in the context of Brexit, trade is big news.

The spectre of chlorinated chicken was raised during the TTIP campaign, and although it garnered some headlines, it didn’t reach the august pages of the Sun. But it also suggests that we’re building on the awareness of problems with trade deals that we created during the TTIP and CETA campaigns. The pro-corporate establishment are already on the back foot and we need to keep it that way.

None of that means we’ll have an easy task. The Tories are desperate for a US-UK trade deal as part of the their vision of how Brexit could work. It’s not just about chlorinated chickens, think rules which open up the NHS to US healthcare corporations. That desperation, along with Trump’s ‘beggar thy neighbour’ foreign policy, is the reason that any deal will end up with such bad terms for the UK. But Trump’s refusal to straightforwardly condemn the neoNazis and Ku Klux Klan after what happened in Charlottesville in August means dealing with Trump’s America is leaving a bad taste in the mouths of increasing numbers of MPs. When a trade bill is published in the next few months we have every chance of persuading enough MPs to back amendments providing for transparency and accountability, with the US-UK deal as a key case study for why we need these.

Those democratic levers will then mean we have a fighting chance of stopping the most egregious trade deals, and keeping the corporate wish-list out of others (see page 4 for a list of possible deals). But in order to put those wheels in motion, we need an autumn of trade campaigning activity.

Start making plans now for how many MP meetings your group might be able to co-ordinate. Does it make sense to work on a more regional basis with other groups? Let’s think big and really shape the future of Britain’s trade deals.

News from Global Justice Now In the media

At the start of July, Nick Dearden was in Germany for the G20 counter conference, and was interviewed by Democracy Now and NBS, as well as writing on the failure of neoliberalism for Al Jazeera.

Towards the end of July our Re-imagining UK Aid report was the subject of an opinion piece in the print version of the Guardian by columnist Zoe Williams. Nick also wrote a comment piece on the state of UK aid spending for Al Jazeera, and the report was covered as a news story in the National in Scotland.

In the last couple of months we have written comment pieces for the Independent on drug prices and the NHS, the UK-US trade deal being about so much more than just chickens, and the government using Brexit to take control away from citizens and give it to corporations.

When it was announced that Trump was delaying his state visit to the UK, we were quoted in the Guardian, USA Today, NY Mag and Esquire.

La Via Campesina

In July Global Justice Now senior campaigner Heidi Chow attended the international congress of La Via Campesina (LVC), the federation of small-scale farmers.

Action checklist

The conference happens every four years and brought together 500 delegates representing movements from over 70 countries, along with a handful of observers from allied organisations. This year’s congress took place near Bilbao, hosted by EHNE Bizkaia, the Basque member organisation of LVC. A key theme running through the conference was solidarity with those facing persecution, criminalisation and discrimination against them alongside the resolve to achieve a UN declaration of rights for small-scale food producers by the end of next year. LVC particularly appreciates the efforts of allies in helping to push for this.

Pharmaceuticals Organise a film screening of Fire in the Blood Migration Write to your local M&S store to organise a meeting with the manager Join the migration-themed protest against the arms fair in London

Brexit Share big business infographics on social media Trade Book a speaker and organise a ‘Trading with Trump’ event Take action from Twenty Ways to Fight for Trade Democracy Set up a meeting with your MP September 2017 3

Trade democracy All of these deals are being discussed behind closed doors, in secrecy. The Department of International Trade has refused our freedom of information request to even tell us when the meetings take place. We know the talks will be making profoundly important decisions affecting health, environment, education, jobs and other issues. Do you trust ministers and officials to make all the right choices when they don’t even have to tell you what is being decided?

New resource An image we produced for social media as chlorinated chickens hit the news.

Trade has been in the news a lot over the summer, particularly around US-UK trade talks, where the issue of chlorinated chicken hit the headlines. While UK trade minister, Liam Fox, is not allowed to finalise any trade deals while the UK is still part of the EU, and the US trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, is not allowed to enter into formal negotiations without a mandate from the US Congress, both sides are being very open that these talks are intended to get things underway. They want to work on some lower level agreements right now, and start preparing the ground for a fully-fledged trade deal. We know that far more is at risk than just chlorinated chicken, as our Trading with Trump briefing explains.

The US deal is only the highest profile of several ‘trade working groups’ that the UK has already set up. There are also working groups with Australia, China, India, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea and Turkey, and similar ‘ministerial dialogues’ with Taiwan, Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Brazil.

There had also been an active working group with the Gulf Co-operation Council, but this is on hold as a result of the dispute between Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

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The headline news stories provide an opening that you may find useful for starting conversations around the trade campaign – maybe reaching out to groups you worked with on the TTIP campaign, holding a trade talk or writing to local media.

To help your campaigning we’ve produced a new resource, Twenty Ways to Fight for Trade Democracy, full of ideas for different local activities. There are suggestions for movement building, lobbying your MP, media work and skillshares. The guide is online at globaljustice.org.uk/trade-action.

Book a trade speaker

We have developed a workshop which is suitable for running as a public event to draw people into the trade campaign. Trading with Trump - a Brexit nightmare? starts from the coverage the potential UK-US trade deal has had recently and uses it as a way in to our whole trade campaign.

If you’d like a member of the trade team to speak, email activism@globaljustice.org.uk or call the activism team on 020 7820 4900.

We are also planning on making a model talk and Powerpoint available so that local groups can speak to other groups in their area.

The World Transformed (23-26 September, Brighton) and the Labour Party conference (24-27 September, Brighton) We’re holding a fringe session on trade at the Labour party conference as well as sessions on trade and on globalisation at the parallel activist festival, The World Transformed.

Contact Guy, guy.taylor@globaljustice.org.uk for more info.

Global Justice Manchester’s stunt outside a

branch of Barclays

Speaking to your MP

As parliament returns from the summer break, we’ll be focussing attention on building support for trade democracy among MPs. Back in July, we worked with a cross-party group of MPs to put down an EDM with our five key asks for more democratic accountability and parliamentary scrutiny – EDM 128. There was only a short time for MPs to sign this before the summer break, but at that point it was the most popular EDM. We’ll soon be asking supporters to ask their MPs to sign it – we want to make sure it stays at the top of the list. The EDM isn’t able to change anything in itself, but it’s a great way to make MPs aware of the importance of the issue, and to start to build support.

We’ll also be holding a parliamentary launch for the trade democracy campaign, along with other groups in the Trade Justice Movement and beyond who are working together on this. More details to follow.

This is a key moment to set up a meeting with your MP. There are ideas in the Twenty Ways to Fight for Trade Democracy guide for how to do this. Give them a copy of the Giving away control briefing and ask them to sign EDM 128. Let us know how it goes – and if they’re supportive, take a photo.

Counter-festival outside the Conservative Party conference (1-7 October, Manchester) We’ll be doing stunts and collecting signatures on our trade democracy petition at the demonstration and counter-festival, Take Back Manchester on Sunday 1 October, outside the Conservative Party conference. We’d love for activists from outside Manchester to join us too. We’ll send details of a meet-up point and other plans to the riseup list soon. Contact Laura, laura.williams@globaljustice.org.uk to let us know that your group is interested in getting involved.

Scottish National Party conference (8-10 October, Glasgow) We’re doing a fringe session on principles for alternative trade at the SNP conference.

Contact Liz, liz.murray@globaljustice.org.uk for more info.

CETA

CETA will start being implemented on 21 September. The original date for this had been in the spring, but concerns in Canada meant that the process has been delayed.

This is ‘provisional implementation’, which goes ahead even though the deal still has to be ratified by many European parliaments.

Party conferences

The next two months are party conference season, and we’ll be raising trade democracy issues everywhere we can:

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Corporate power/ Pharmaceuticals September will see the launch of our new report in collaboration with STOPAIDS, which exposes the way the power of pharmaceutical corporations drives up the cost of healthcare and prevents access to medicine across the world. Enclosed with this issue of Think Global are the materials you need to help you start campaigning on this issue locally.

What’s the campaign about?

In the UK, billions of pounds is spent on medical research and development from the public purse. But the most lucrativelooking research is often bought up by big companies, which patent new drugs and sell them at extortionate prices. This leaves hundreds of millions of people in the global south unable to access medicines. Even the NHS is struggling to pay for new treatments and has had to ration or turn down drugs because of the high prices being charged by pharmaceutical companies.

We are calling on the government to ensure that all new medicines developed with UK public funding will be affordable and accessible to people here and abroad. Our targets will be mainly the Department of Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy and the Department of Health as both these departments provide public funds to biomedical research. Initially the campaign will be about raising awareness, with the public, media, social media, MPs and the relevant government departments.

There is a lot of momentum around this campaign ask at the UN level and also with other campaigning groups both in the UK and Europe, which is helpful for us to gain some political traction. We will also be identifying a corporate target to help us communicate the issue and the real-life impacts of expensive medicines. This will be connected to evidence in the report and we 6 September 2017

will inform you more about this in the coming months.

You can find more about the campaign and the issues in the four detailed campaign briefings and a frequently asked questions briefing which are enclosed in this Think Global.

The upcoming report

We are launching a new report along with STOPAIDS at the end of September.

The report details an investigation into UK government spending on medical research and development and exposes examples of drugs that have received UK public funding, but are sold to health services here and abroad (including the global south) for extortionate prices.

New campaign materials

Each group will receive the new campaign materials in this month’s Think Global. More materials can be ordered by emailing offleyroad@globaljustice.org.uk or phoning 020 7820 4900.

Campaign briefings There are five campaign briefings to give you an overview of different aspects of the campaign. These are intended to introduce local group members to the issues and the campaign, rather than being for public distribution per se.

Frequently asked questions This briefing will address various questions that may be asked about the campaign and help groups and activists get up to the speed on the issues.

Leaflet This is an accessible A5 leaflet that to help explain and engage people about this campaign at events and at stalls.

Action card

Speaker tour leaflet coming soon...

This action card doubles up as a scratch card to act as a conversation starter about problems of access to medicines. The action on the back asks MPs to contact the department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy and demand transparency and accessibility conditions on all UK government medical research and development funding.

Poster This will help grab the attention of people walking past stalls.

The original version of this illustration was used when big pharmaceutical companies sued the South African government for providing cheap generic medicines to HIV patients.

Film screenings

We’ve got a license to screen the powerful documentary Fire in the Blood which excellently portrays the struggle for access to HIV medicines in South Africa in the late ’90s /early ’00s. The film shows a range of voices including campaigners, patients, politicians, generic drug producers and big pharmaceutical company representatives who describe and analyse what became one of the biggest and most successful social justice campaigns in history.

It’s a great way to introduce a public audience to this campaign and the issues it raises around access to medicines and affordability. We will be producing information sheets and questions for a discussion to be used along with the film.

Get in touch with Sam on 020 7820 4900 or sam.lund-harket@globaljustice.org.uk if you’re interested in organising a screening.

Speaker tour in November

To help with raising public awareness on this campaign, we are organising a speaker tour around the UK with Sibongile Tshabalala, the deputy general secretary of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in South Africa. TAC played a big part in the struggle for access to HIV drugs in South Africa at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the late 1990s and today they continue to fight for access to affordable HIV drugs and cancer treatments.

The tour will take place in eight locations in collaboration with local groups: Tuesday 31 October Wednesday 1 November Thursday 2 November Friday 3 November Saturday 4 November Tuesday 7 November Wednesday 8 November Thursday 9 November

London Reading Leeds Liverpool Bristol Dundee Nottingham Brighton

For further details of the venues, check out the event page on our website: globaljustice.org.uk/sick-of

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Migrant solidarity M&S: stop funding hate

As reported in August’s Think Global Extra, we made a very successful intervention into the M&S AGM, presenting our email action signatures and a letter signed by over 70 migrant rights and anti-racist organisations.

One of our campaigns team rebutted CEO Steve Rowe’s defence of M&S advertising policy, and a member of the South East London group read the co-signed letter in full. Following this, we had a long meeting with both the CEO and the chairman.

We’re now looking into what the most effective next steps are. In the meantime, if you haven’t already, write to your local M&S store or organise a meeting with the manager to make them aware of local concern about M&S advertising in the Daily Mail. You can use the letter we delivered at the M&S AGM as a basis for your arguments.

The focus on the Daily Mail is proving to be a good way to draw new people in to the migration campaign at a national level, but we’re keen to broaden the focus again over the autumn. This includes commissioning research and further materials which can help shift the terms of the debate.

Protest the arms fair

In September we will be joining the demonstration against the DSEI arms fair - one of the world’s biggest arms fairs which comes to London every other year. We are joining the day of action that is specifically themed around calling for free movement for people, not weapons. The weapons sold here fuel death, destruction and injustice around the world, and force people to migrate. As militarised borders kill tens of thousands of people every year, arms dealers and weapons companies seeking to profit from this inhumane treatment of migrants are being welcomed to London for this arms fair.

8 September 2017

You can join the day of action which will include cabaret performances, food, music and stories at the gates of the arms fair while an alternative ‘border force’ takes action to stop weapons and equipment from entering.

When: Thursday 7 September, 10.30am-4pm Where: ExCel London, Royal Victoria Dock, London E16 Further info can be found at globaljustice. org.uk/events or email aisha.dodwell@ globaljustice.org.uk with any queries.

Freedom of movement lobby

Although we’re interested in a fairer global migration system based on human rights for all, we believe that losing free movement in the EU would represent a huge step backwards for this vision. Therefore, we’re working with Another Europe is Possible and the3million to try to protect EU migrant rights post-Brexit. Our take is that we need to defend and extend the sorts of human rights which we have within the EU. That’s why we’re supporting a mass lobby of parliament on the afternoon of 13 September. Activists will come from all over the country to argue that their MP should support European migrant right post-Brexit. Full details of the day, including a closing rally, here www.the3million.org.uk

Paddington badges

Our Paddington Bear stickers proved very popular (and there are still some available to order), so we’ve also used him on a new badge. A few are included with this Think Global for groups, but you can order more via activism@globaljustice.org.uk. Feel free to take donations on stalls for these badges and put the money towards your group’s activities.

Aidwatch In July we released a new report, Re-imagining UK Aid: What a progressive strategy could look like. For many years Global Justice Now has campaigned against inappropriate aid spending, fighting projects that make bad use of the UK’s aid budget, such as the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition or the NIAF programme in Nigeria, for example.

focuses aid spending on notions of charity, national selfinterest, and an ideological belief that big business can solve the world’s problems.

This new report builds on our critical expertise to make the case for how aid should be spent. It argues that aid needs to be refocused on principles of social justice and the need to redistribute economic and political power in the world. By drawing on concrete case studies from across the world, the report makes policy recommendations for how to improve the UK’s aid spending.

We hope that this report will influence opposition parties and help to trigger critical debates in the development sector.

We have sent the report to MPs and have already had some positive meetings. The report’s launch also attracted positive media coverage (see page 3).

This intervention comes at an important time, as the present government increasingly

A summary of the report is enclosed with this Think Global, and for groups, a copy of the whole report. You can find them both online at globaljustice.org.uk/resources

Brexit With Brexit dominating the UK political scene, most of our campaigning is affected by it.

Our trade democracy campaign is focused on post-Brexit trade deals, and our migration campaign relates to Brexit in several ways – see opposite for EU migration rights campaigning. The other work we’re doing on Brexit is a fairly small part of the overall mix, and is being done in alliance with other organisations. But we’re doing it because it will affect fundamentally what kind of society we end up living in after Brexit.

The Great Repeal Bill

This is a vast bill which will be introduced into parliament early in September, with the aim of transferring EU into UK law in time for Brexit. We’re worried that too much of this process will happen in secret, with big business playing a prominent role, and using

the opportunity to water down important standards and protections. We have joined a broad coalition committed to ensuring the bill does not water down standards at the behest of corporations, something which would be bad for poverty and inequality in Britain, and set a dangerous precedent for the role our country intends to play in the world post-Brexit.

Brexit business lobby

Working with our ally Corporate Europe Observatory we’ve produced two briefings examining big business influence on the Brexit process. We found that 90% of ministerial meetings with the trade department and almost 70% with the Brexit department were with business – and the vast majority was big business. There are infographics that you can share on the website and our social media.

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Groups and activism news Global Justice Bolton was officially constituted as a new local group and did a stunt outside the local M&S to coincide with our AGM action in London. They are also working with other groups in the North West region to plan a presence at the Wigan Diggers Festival in early September.

Global Justice Manchester did a ‘who’s pulling the strings on trade’ stunt (see front cover) outside a branch of Barclays to highlight the influence the bank, and corporations more generally, are having on the Department for International Trade through corporate lobbying. Barclays had six meetings in the lead up to the first UK-US trade meeting.

Joel Bakan. She would be happy to share a copy of the talk with any group who would like to use a similar format. Contact her at globaljusticereading@gmail.com Global Justice Macclesfield used the giant Corporate Monopoly game in the town centre (below) to help them get Dangerous Deals postcards signed. Natalie reports: “it worked well in increasing our visibility as well as opening opportunities for discussion. The

They also got coverage on local news website The Meteor for their protest outside M&S (above).

Rotherham for Global Justice held a trade stall at the city’s first Mela, and were planning another at the Rotherham Show.

Global Justice Reading’s last meeting was entitled ‘Corporates - Saints or Sinners?’ The group started by playing the new Corporate Monopoly game (above right) and reported that some people found it so interesting they asked if they could buy a copy! Group co-ordinator Jackie Oversby then gave a talk based on the book ‘The Corporation’ by 10 September 2017

wet and windy weather half way through was quite challenging though!”

Global Justice Gloucestershire teamed up with local groups of Campaign Against Arms Trade and Friends of the Earth to hold two Saturday street stalls.

Global Justice Glasgow’s magnificent Paddington Bear costume had two more outings during August, first at the ‘I Welcome’ exhibition, which Glasgow West Amnesty put on in GOMA (Glasgow’s Modern Art Gallery) and at the Big Picnic at the Helix Park in Falkirk.

National Activists’ Meeting When: Saturday 30 September, 11am-4pm Where: Manchester Community Central, Swan Building, 20 Swan Street, Manchester M4 5JW* Items for discussion will include: • Trade democracy campaign planning: Share your ideas and experiences so far and work out how to influence as many MPs as possible on this. Feed back on what materials are useful.

• Future of Area Reps and group representation on council (feeding in to a council-led review).

• Groups consultation outcomes and how this will affect our campaigning in 2018.

• Q&A on all of our campaigns and work.

Groups are encouraged to send a representative to this meeting if they can. Reimbursements are available for travel booked in advance. We will also provide lunch, but you must let us know in advance that you’re coming, To book your place email james.onions@ globaljustice.org.uk

Global Justice Ayrshire also ran a street stall in Irvine town centre.

*Please note this is a change from the previously advertised venue

Global Justice Derby’s co-ordinator Ann Hart is stepping down from the role after 17 years.

Her last activity was running a stall at the Belper Goes Green Festival, where the group focused on the M&S campaign. New group contact Keith is organising meetings over the autumn to reinvigorate the group.

Global Justice Bexhill and Hastings ran a stall at the annual interfaith event in St Leonards.

Group co-ordinator Christina reports: “There is always great competition from the entertainment laid on but we had a good response to our campaigns, especially trade and farming ... Corporate Monopoly game an attraction once again.” (right)

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Current materials Food sovereignty

• BOOKLET: Farmers under fire • BRIEFING: Post-Brexit alternatives to the Common Agricultural Policy • BOOKLET: On Solid Ground (agroecology) • REPORT: From The Roots Up (agroecology) • BRIEFING: Problems with corporate controlled seeds • BRIEFING: From handouts to the super-rich to a hand-up for small-scale farmers

Energy justice

• LEAFLET: Repowering the future: Municipal energy in practice • BRIEFING: Towards a just energy system

Trade

• **NEW BRIEFING: Twenty ways to fight for trade democracy • BRIEFING: Giving away control • ACTION CARD: Dangerous deals done in the dark • DISCUSSION PAPER: Ten alternatives to a corporate trade agenda • BRIEFING: Trading with Trump • LEAFLET/POSTER: If you lIked TTIP you’ll love CETA • BRIEFING: CETA: TTIP’s little brother • BRIEFING: Five reasons TTIP and CETA are a disaster for the climate • REPORT: TTIP and tax justice • BRIEFING: Regulatory Cooperation

Migration

• POSTER: Bin the Daily Mail - Migrants welcome here • ACTION SLIP: M&S stop funding hate • POSTER: M&S stop funding hate • BRIEFING: Migrant crisis or poverty crisis?

Exploring alternatives booklets

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

Pharmaceuticals • • • •

**NEW LEAFLET: Sick of corporate greed **NEW ACTION CARD: Sick? **NEW PACK OF BRIEFINGS **NEW POSTER: imagine if the NHS couldn’t afford the medicine to save your life

General materials

• BRIEFING: Decimating rights (Great Repeal Bill) • REPORT: Honest Accounts 2017 - How the world profits from Africa’s wealth • BRIEFING: The Dangers of Trump • LEAFLET: Stop Trump coalition • ‘HOW TO’ GUIDES: Guides to various aspects of activism • SIGN-UP SHEET: Double-sided, Global Justice Now branded • STICKERS and BADGES • LEAFLET: ‘There is No Alternative’ membership leaflet • POSTER: Trumped up world • MAGAZINE: Latest issue of Ninety-Nine You can now find this list online, with links to electronic versions of the materials so you can see what they’re like. Just go to globaljustice.org.uk/current-materials