© Genevieve Stevenson
A message from our director
Last year was a difficult one. It was charaterised by the rise of authoritarian populism and racism in Europe, the US and across the world. This presents fundamental challenges to our fight against poverty and inequality. But this wave of hate should not come as a surprise. Too many leaders have given in to the idea that the whole world should become a gigantic marketplace. A place where people’s lives matter less than growth, profit and more wealth for the few. Anger and frustration are an inevitable reaction to the inequality this economy creates. And the promises of the rightwing populists like Trump do not offer hope of something better, but rather create more hatred and division. This makes our job more important than ever. But as bleak as things sometimes look, we are making a difference. In the last year we stopped big business’s latest project, the US-EU trade deal known as TTIP*. This would have been unimaginable not long ago and we should take a step back and celebrate.
Our campaigns against corporate agriculture and dodgy aid spending made significant strides ahead too. These sorts of victories are based on ordinary people, like you, giving their time and resources to help build a better world. This is how all genuinely worthwhile change happens. It can be very slow, and the outlook might be daunting. But with patience and determination, we can create positive political change. We have a world to win. We can defeat boundless greed and create a world where everyone’s needs are met. Those who campaigned for social justice before us faced greater hardships and harsher opposition than us. Thankfully they persevered, and we live in a better world as a result. If they could do it, so can we.
Nick Dearden Director
*The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
3
© Andrew Perry
Facing toxic trade deals TTIP and people power The death of TTIP is testament to our strength in numbers. Together with European allies, we collected millions of signatures against the toxic deal. And by dragging TTIP into the public eye we made sure that this was an issue governments could not ignore.
Last year our campaign against some of the most toxic trade deals in a decade reached new heights. After years of campaigning against the toxic US-EU trade deal TTIP*, we stopped it! And we had some really important wins against the Canada-EU deal, CETA**, too. With renewed energy and proof that people power works, we are now ready to
tackle the challenges ahead and push for democratic and progressive trade deals. We have a vision of a more equal world where resources are in the hands of the many. That’s why, together, we will stand up to the new wave of trade deals pushing governments to reduce regulations and allow corporations to broaden their control of the economy for profit.
*The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership **The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement
8
Funding our ‘TTIP free zone’ packs was one of the ways your support generated public opposition to TTIP. These packs helped local activists around the UK to oppose TTIP by getting their council declared a TTIP free zone, with a total of 56 across the country. Because of public pressure, not only did we force the government to amend the Queen’s Speech with a promise to protect the NHS from TTIP, we also got 117 MPs to sign a parliamentary petition calling for scrutiny of undemocratic trade processes.
Mobilising against CETA
The challenges ahead
Although the European parliament voted ‘yes’ to CETA in February 2017, we had some great successes against the trade deal in 2016. And because of your support, we generated enormous public opposition to it.
As the UK leaves the EU, a US-UK trade deal is top priority for the government. In the year ahead, we want to make sure that trade means something positive and progressive and not the signing away of our rights, protections and services.
From organising educational events, to spreading awareness online, together we ramped up the pressure on decisionmakers. Be it dressing up as corporate rats or zombie officials, campaigners got creative and organised eye-catching and effective stunts.
With your support, we will keep building the movement for democratic trade by: • Pressuring MPs to support and insist on a more democratic trade policy process. • Insisting that future trade deals address inequality. • Developing a framework for what an alternative trade model would look like in a post-Brexit economy. • Reaching thousands more people who’ve yet to hear of our campaign, through materials and resource packs. • Working with allies worldwide to make a just global trade system a reality.
© Joyce Nicholls
Our hard work forced the European commission to reform the ‘corporate court’ provisions in CETA. We also pressured the EU into agreeing that each EU member state must democratically approve the deal before it can be fully implemented. This has given us precious time to stop the worst aspects of the deal coming into effect.
We’ve already built a strong anti-TTIP and CETA movement. And we’ll continue to build it to stand up for more democratic trade deals and transparency in how they are written.
What next?
9
Holding corporations to account Giant corporations are aggressively taking control of food away from communities. So we are challenging corporate controlled agriculture, and also promoting food sovereignty. This alternative approach to the food system puts control into the hands of local communities, while working with the environment. In 2016 we went to Romania for the European Food Sovereignty Gathering to help develop an action plan for the European movement. Last year, the support of people like you helped put the much-criticised agricultural giant, Monsanto, on trial for human rights abuses at a global citizen’s tribunal. The trial highlighted corporate impunity and brought together global activists, farmers, academics, lawyers, as well as our campaigners.
Before giving her testimony at the trial, Bangladeshi economist and food campaigner, Farida Akhter, came to the UK to lead our highly successful speaker tour about Monsanto and corporate power. The tour showcased our photo exhibition of small-scale farmers in Bangladesh and India whose lives have been tragically affected by Monsanto. In 2016, we celebrated when glyphosate – the chemical in Monsanto’s flagship weedkiller, Roundup, which the World Health Organisation says probably causes cancer – was only temporarily relicensed by the EU. Our supporters contributed to this success, with 855 using our ‘brandalism’ campaign packs to raise awareness.
“Monsanto has taken control of our agriculture. This is very dangerous.” Farida Akhter Bangladeshi economist and food campaigner 10
Your support also meant that we could continue our campaign against the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. Last year we successfully influenced an EU parliamentary report to strongly criticise this aid scheme, which promotes corporate agriculture in Africa. And the UK government now no longer funds it.
What next? • Pressure the UK government to back a UN declaration of small-scale farmers’ rights, to help protect those on the frontline of corporate agriculture. • Build a coalition around the food sovereignty movement’s People’s Food Policy and generate political support for it. • Launch a new campaign challenging the corporate control of our medicines.
Who’s pocketing aid money? “Help the poor? Pay consultants more” “Fair pay = £150K.” On April Fool’s Day last year, our campaigners posed as international development consultants outside parliament, to demand higher wages from the public purse. But the profit that the development consultancy firm Adam Smith International (ASI) was making out of our aid budget was no joke.
“UK aid should be first and foremost about tackling poverty and inequality and not benefiting UK business.” Diane Abbott Former shadow development secretary, who spoke at our 2016 AGM Aid can and should make the world a better place. But instead of benefiting communities, ASI uses aid to push privatisation, which helps corporations, while fuelling inequality and poverty. Thanks to the backing of supporters like you, we have a strong track record
of opposing aid spending that profits big business. And 2016 was a year of success. Through our report ‘The Privatisation of UK Aid’, we exposed ASI for making multi-million pound profits out of the UK aid budget while running often questionable projects overseas. Your support enabled us to expose ASI and trigger a parliamentary investigation into the firm. As a result the government has suspended any new contracts with the company.
What next? • With our newly published report on what alternative aid spending should look like, we’re ready to debate aid in 2017 and push for positive change. • We are monitoring aid spending so we can expose when it is misused to profit big business rather than people.
A sprawling shopping mall in Kenya and private healthcare in India are among examples of privatised development projects funded by the CDC Group – the private investment arm of the UK Department for International Development. In winter 2016, our supporters and staff took action to stop a bill to increase public spending to the CDC Group by billions of pounds. Although the bill eventually went ahead, we successfully lobbied many MPs to oppose it. 11
Trump, May and beyond: speaking out on critical issues
This is not a ‘migrant crisis’ The demonisation of refugees and migrants in 2016 was something we felt we couldn’t ignore. Our message of ‘this is not a “migrant crisis”’challenged the migration debate to address the issues forcing people to move. Over 800 of our supporters used our campaign packs to spread this message in their local communities. And our local groups attended training sessions with Hope Not Hate to help them take on difficult conversations about migration. Thanks to thousands of our supporters taking action, we also delivered sacks of Christmas cards to the Daily Mail 12
What next? headquarters, demanding a stop to their hateful and divisive media narrative.
Brexit: before and after Our members and local groups are the foundation of our campaigns, so we asked them about campaigning on the EU referendum. 68% asked us to campaign for a critical ‘remain’. So as part of the campaign Another Europe is Possible, we pushed this stance through materials and conferences. After the referendum we set seven ‘red lines’ to protect rights, democracy and the environment in the negotiations. And, along with our supporters, we are lobbying MPs to back them.
• Defend our ‘red lines’ throughout the Brexit negotiations and campaign against the undermining of human rights and environmental standards. • Counter the anti-migrant narrative by targeting the mainstream media, such as the Daily Mail and their funders. • Promote freedom of movement for people in Europe and beyond by working with like-minded organisations. • Build a UK movement to oppose Trump’s state visit as part of the Stop Trump coalition.
© Jess Hurd
Ahead of a far-right demonstration in Dover, our campaigners and allies projected ‘#Refugees Welcome’ in huge letters onto the iconic white cliffs. Thanks to our supporters, we could react to the politics of hate that saturated 2016 and push alternative narratives.
Young activists rising We may be feeling the effects of the political upheaval of 2016 for decades to come. So it’s vital that young activists come together to take on current challenges and prepare for the future. Our youth network launched in autumn 2016 with six thriving groups set up in Leeds, Manchester, London, Falmouth, Nottingham and York. By running activities, including street theatre stunts and film screenings, our youth network is forging a new generation of committed activists. We are also working to introduce more young people to political ideas, and engage them in activism, by supporting the educational project Demand the Impossible. Together we ran a three-day summer school in Glasgow in 2016 and a six-month course for around thirty people in London, spanning 2016-2017, with some public sessions reaching more than a hundred people.
“As young people, we seem to be left out of decisions made by political elites that are concerned with profitable short-term solutions rather than sustainable and fair policies. Our time to rise is now.” Josephine Brons Global Justice Now youth network © Luca Neve
What next? • Support Demand the Impossible to run summer schools in Manchester and London. • Bring young activists to the annual gathering of the international global justice network, ATTAC, in France, to involve them in international mobilisation around current issues. • Support young aspiring filmmakers to produce effective campaigning videos.
13
16
17
Thank you for being part of the movement for a fairer future
To find out more or ask a question, get in touch at: Global Justice Now, 66 Offley Road, London SW9 0LS
Photo: Š London Welcome Project
020 7820 4900 • offleyroad@globaljustice.org.uk www.globaljustice.org.uk @GlobalJusticeUK Global Justice Now @globaljusticenow
Photos by Global Justice Now, unless credited otherwise. Design and layout: www.revangeldesigns.co.uk Global Justice Now: company no 2098198. Global Justice Now Trust: registered charity no 1064066, company no 3188734