THINK GLOBAL
Act locally with Global Justice Now
February 2021 
Contents 02 Welcome 03 News from Global Justice Now 04 People’s vaccine campaign 06 Climate justice 08 Trade justice 09 Aid watch 10 Groups and activism news 12 In the media
Our campaign for vaccine justice for the global south is cutting through Cameron Joshi Activism team More than 4 million vulnerable people in the UK have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine as Think Global goes to print. As someone who was disabled by illness for a long time, I know what this means the world for people who had been forced into strict confinement for almost a year. But one fact throws this triumph into perspective. In December we worked with the People’s Vaccine campaign to report that the global north has three times more vaccines than their population, while many countries in the global south will only be able to vaccinate 10% of their population by the end of 2021. In January, World Health Organisation chief Tedros Gebreyesus declared that we are heading for a “catastrophic moral failure” as the vaccine rollout is warped by vaccine nationalism and big pharma’s profit motive. Our research on this issue was covered extensively right around the world. Tedros’s comments were reported everywhere. The start of the vaccine rollout has meant global vaccine inequality is getting more attention. But factories still stand idle across the world, and vulnerable people will continue to die painfully, because corporations don’t want to forgo the patents which will make them a tidy profit.
Inserts Trade/climate
• Leaflet: How trade deals are fuelling climate breakdown
Pharma
• Briefing: Fighting for a People’s Vaccine • Parliamentary briefing on the Covid patent waiver
2 February 2021
As part of the People’s Vaccine campaign, in December hundreds of us phoned Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, calling on them to join CTAP (Covid-19 Technology Access Pool) in order to share their patents. It was a great start to ramping up the pressure, but now’s the time to escalate the campaign, not just towards the companies themselves, but to push governments to suspend Covid-related patents as South Africa and India are demanding at the World Trade Organisation. For years I was dependent on patented pharmaceutical drugs to stop me getting extremely ill, drugs that were rationed even within the NHS because corporations used their patents to drive up the price. We must never forget just how many lives big pharma holds in its hands, and how much pain it will inflict to protect profits.
News from Global Justice Now Activism team in lockdown
The majority of the office staff continue to work from home as we have been doing since last March, and since the beginning of this year we’ve switched back to only one member of staff coming in each day. This means that it is possible to send materials out to groups, but with notice (clearly there are limited uses for printed materials at the moment, but group members may wish to read briefings etc). At the time of writing, Guy is working half time to accomodate childcare/homeschooling, so we’re lower on capacity than normal. We are checking the activism inbox daily, however: 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.
Group reaffiliation
By the second week of January every group should have received the annual reaffiliation form in the post. It was sent in printed form partly to allow us to use Mail Merge to prefill most of the form for you, to reduce the amount you have to do. Most of the groups who have returned the form so far have done so by taking a photo of it and emailing that, which is absolutely
Action checklist
fine. Please note, though, that we can’t recommend sending card details by email, even in a picture. We’re happy to phone you to take card details for the affiliation fee - just let us know. It is especially important that groups confirm their five national members this year, as this is what ensures groups are able to nominate candidates and vote in our council elections - and our new electoral system requires at least three council members to have been nominated by their own local group. If you haven’t returned your form yet, please do so by 15 February.
Council elections
This year, in the run up to our AGM, we will be electing a new council for the next three years. Nominations will open on 19 February and close on 26 March. Following last year’s rule changes, all twelve places on council are open for direct election. Members will receive details of how to stand later in February. Voting will take place in late April and May, and the results will be announced at the AGM.
AGM
Our AGM this year will take place on Saturday 5 June. As in 2020 we will run the AGM on Zoom. Details as they’re confirmed at: globaljustice.org.uk/agm-2021
Pharma Take and share our two latest email actions on patents and AstraZeneca.
Climate justice Respond to the government’s consultation on fossil fuel financing by 8 February.
Encourage local organisations to sign our People’s Vaccine sign-on statement before the WTO meeting on the patent waiver in March.
Meetings Join the Activist Forum with group members from across the country on 11 February. February 2021 3
People’s vaccine campaign The Secretary-General of the WHO gave a speech in January that has galvanised the world’s attention onto the issue of unfair access to Covid-19 vaccines. Dr Tedros Gebreyesus said that: “More than 39 million doses of vaccine have now been administered in at least 49 higher-income countries. Just 25 doses have been given in one lowest-income country. Not 25 million; not 25 thousand; just 25” He also said that the situation was so dire that: “the world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure – and the price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries.” The case for equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines is building momentum. It is important to save lives as well as ensuring we can end this pandemic quickly for everyone. A recent study by the International Chamber of Commerce revealed that there is also a strong economic case too. Hoarding Covid-19 vaccines could cost wealthy countries at least US$4.5 trillion in lost income this year. As more media attention is directed to this situation, this is a good opportunity for us to keep pushing our campaign and our demands for systemic change.
Suspending global patent rules An important proposal to change the underlying systemic rules that are sustaining vaccine inequality is still being discussed at the World Trade Organisation. The discussions on the proposal to suspend the global rules on patents for Covid-19 treatments and vaccines are now expected to continue into the spring.
So far, the two sides are deadlocked with 100 countries from the global south supporting this proposal while rich countries – including 4 February 2021
the UK – continue to oppose it. Almost all these rich countries have hoarded vaccines in advance. Negotiations are scheduled for 4 February and 10 March and so in the run up to the February meeting we are asking as many people as possible to help promote the email action to put pressure on the UK government. Please take our action and share it to your contacts and networks. This page also includes a video of parliamentarians from the global south calling for support for the proposal. globaljustice.org.uk/monopolies If you want to do more on this, it would be great if you could ask your MP to write to Liz Truss, the international trade secretary and Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary to urge the government to support this proposal. A copy of our parliamentary briefing is enclosed. You can share with your MP too, as it is available as a PDF on the Think Global section of our website: globaljustice.org.uk/think-globalfebruary-2021
Public and group meetings
If you want to build your understanding of
the pharmaceutical campaign or hold a public webinar on the issues you can invite our campaigner, Heidi Chow to speak at your events. Please get in touch with her via heidi.chow@globaljustice.org.uk to arrange.
People’s Vaccine sign-on statement We are hoping to demonstrate widespread grassroots support for a People’s Vaccine in time for the WTO meeting in March and so we have written a solidarity statement to call for the policy changes that are needed to ensure that the world can produce enough vaccines for all countries. It would be great if you were able to get in touch with groups in your area and ask them to sign it. For example you could approach local trade union branch, local political party branch, churches, faith groups, diaspora groups, NHS groups etc. This statement will help with outreach and raising awareness towards building support for a People’s Vaccine. Find it at globaljustice.org.uk/callpeoples-vaccine
in the global south shouldn’t be charged more than rich countries. We only know these prices because they were leaked. This is not good enough. Information about pricing should be in the open. You can help us to demand that AstraZeneca urgently release their pricing strategy and to commit to non-profit pricing for all countries by taking and sharing this action: globaljustice.org.uk/AZ AstraZeneca has also hit the headlines for not delivering its contracted supplies to the EU. This illustrates the problem of pharmaceutical monopolies in the pandemic as well as the lack of transparency from these companies around their supplies, prices and costs.
New supporter briefing
We have updated our supporter briefing for the campaign with the latest information about the issues around vaccine access. There is a paper version in this Think Global and you can you also find it online. Please share the briefing with your group members and anyone else who might be interested for the latest updates on the campaign.
AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine
It has been widely reported that the government of South Africa has paid more than double the price that European countries have been charged for the AstraZeneca vaccine. While AstraZeneca previously promised to cap prices of the vaccine at US$3 per dose and only charge a non-profit price, South Africa is reported to have paid over US$5 per dose, while European Union countries paid just over US$2 per shot. This is outrageous and clearly contravenes the company’s promise to price at-cost during the pandemic. Pharmaceutical companies including AstraZeneca are notorious for guarding important information like pricing and keeping it from public scrutiny. But this vaccine was publicly funded and countries
Key resources NEW: Fighting for a People’s Vaccine January 2021 briefing to get you up to date with our campaign (enclosed). NEW: The horrible history of Big Pharma 44-page report on some of the main players in the pharmaceutical industry (December 2020). Currently only available electronically. Waiver of Intellectual Property Rights relating to COVID-19 health technologies Two-page parliamentary briefing on the WTO waiver proposal. Contact us to order these or find them at globaljustice.org.uk/resources February 2021 5
Climate justice UK fossil fuel finance
In December we celebrated a campaign victory when the government announced at its Climate Ambition Summit that the UK would soon stop using public funds to finance fossil fuels overseas. However, that doesn’t mean the campaign is over, and this month we have a real opportunity to influence government policy as the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy consults on how and when the UK government will bring fossil fuel financing to an end. There remain several possible loopholes that could be introduced to weaken the policy, and the date on which the policy will come into force is yet to be set. To ensure that this is a bold and ambitious policy, which encourages further climate action by the UK and other governments in the run up to COP26, we need as many people as possible to respond to this consultation. The government has put forward four possible timelines for when it will implement this ban on fossil fuel finance. We are pushing for Option A - for this ban to apply as soon as the consultation results are announced (March 2021). Any delays to this could allow public bodies like UK Export Finance to rush through a host of new projects, including the gigantic East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline, which is opposed by local communities in Uganda and Tanzania. We also need to oppose the loopholes, or ‘exclusions’, which could allow the government to continue investing in gas power or projects that enable the fossil fuel industry to grow (such as pipelines, ports or airports specifically built to facilitate energy exports). Allowing such projects to continue would undermine the hard work that activists have put in to push the government this far and 6 February 2021
would further threaten attempts to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
Responding to the consultation You can respond to the consultation directly, as an individual or as a group. Email aligning_uk_intl_support@beis.gov.uk but be aware that the deadline is 8 February. Unique responses demonstrate strong public feeling on the matter so it’s worth doing this if you can. Email daniel.willis@globaljustice.org. uk for guidance on what to include. We also have an online action to allow more people to submit a response. The response is pre-written, but you can edit your individual response as well. Find it at globaljustice.org.uk/dump-dirty
New coal mine in Cumbria
Last year Cumbria County Council gave the go ahead to a new coal mine in Whitehaven. At a time when we need to be rapidly decarbonising the economy of the whole planet, and a year in which the UK is hosting the UN climate talks (COP26), it’s a disgrace that the mine is being allowed to go ahead. As with similar planning decisions, Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, has the power to ‘call in’ the decision and overrule local government. So far he has declined to do so. South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC) has been leading the fight against
the mine, and has now launched an appeal to fund a Judicial Review of the decision to let it go ahead.
Key resources
SLACC was actually set up by members of the Global Justice South Lakes (or South Lakes WDM as it then was) in 2007 after a very successful speaker tour meeting in Kendal. Some of you will remember that we launched our climate change campaign that year with Ricardo Navarro from El Salvador speaking around the country.
The Case for Climate Justice 16-page illustrated booklet (July 2020)
As Think Global went to press we were working with SLACC to work up an email action to Robert Jenrick to demand he changes course. For the latest, check globaljustice.org.uk/blog.
COP26 Coalition
In November we took part in an international online climate justice conference organised by the COP26 Coalition. From the Ground Up attracted thousands of participants over five days. Now a follow up conference is being organised.
Decarbonising Aid Why the UK must end its overseas fossil fuel financing before COP26. Four-page briefing (June 2020)
Contact us to order these or find them at globaljustice.org.uk/resources
From the Ground Up: Taking Action will take place on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 March, and the sessions will be much more focused on how we organise for climate justice, rather than on political education and discussion. We have submitted several session proposals, including one on building local coalitions around COP26, and will let you know what makes it through to the final programme.
Migration On International Migrants Day in December we released our long-awaited migration research, Freedom of Movement: Why we need open borders. The pamphlet summarises the case for global free movement as a long-term demand in the fight for global justice. We make the argument that it cannot be right for the place you are born to dictate whether you will live a life of poverty or plenty, of freedom or imprisonment. Nor that while the richest, at least in normal times, move around with ease, the poorest are imprisoned in geographical poverty. Freedom of Movement is our small contribution to injecting hope and energy
into a debate which often sees those championing migrants rights pushed onto the back foot. It is only by freeing our imaginations that we can begin to really see how things could be otherwise. The pandemic has shown us that more than ever. Read the report at globaljustice.org.uk/freemovement. Printed copies have not made it in time for this mailing but can be ordered from the office for when have them. February 2021 7
Trade justice Trade Bill
The Trade Bill is in its final stages. As we feared, the win we had at the end of last year, when the Lords passed an amendment to give parliament a say on trade deals, was overturned when the bill returned to the Commons, despite eleven backbench Conservatives rebelling. The bill will now return to the Lords again, and Labour and the Lib Dems are planning to reintroduce a variation of the trade democracy amendment, but the chances are not high of it remaining in the bill. However, in four years of campaigning on this we have actually achieved a fair amount. The government has been forced to accept scrutiny is important and has been dragged against its inclination into doing at least a weak version of most of the things we’ve been asking for in practice. It seems unlikely now that we will actually get those things written into law at this point, but in the long run, it may well be something that comes back in a couple of years’ time, when parliament has had to actually face how little control it has over trade. And for as long as these final stages of the bill continue, we will keep supporting our allies in parliament who continue to speak out.
US-UK trade deal and others
We’ve been having some useful conversations with allies in the US about what to expect from the Biden administration, but we still need to wait and see. On the whole, Biden is saying he will not be starting new trade negotiations in the next few months. However there is a significant remaining chance he will try and wrap the trade deal with the UK quickly as something that is not ‘new’ but which he inherited and is just tidying up. We’re continuing to follow developments and hope to be able to make an assessment of which direction things will go in very soon. 8 February 2021
As we mentioned before, we had been doing some work with parliamentarians on the UK’s trading arrangements with Kenya, Ghana and Cameroon. These are countries not classed as LDCs and we were pushing the government to offer them all the same unilateral access to the UK’s market as their neighbouring LDCs get, rather than forcing them to sign reciprocal free trade deals. We were able to get the issue debated in parliament, during the Trade Bill process. However as the Brexit cliff edge approached, all three countries gave in and signed deals.
Corporate courts
We have also spotted a possible opportunity for some more focussed campaigning on ISDS, aka corporate courts, in the rolled over UK-Canada deal. The investment chapter in the deal will be suspended, and there will be a review of this to start within three months of it coming into force. We’re hoping we could use this to campaign to take ISDS out of the deal and are starting to explore this.
Key resources Trade Secrets Nick’s short book on the US trade deal, now in an updated version. Read at tradesecrets.globaljustice.org.uk NEW: How trade deals are fuelling climate breakdown Four page leaflet Organising locally against the US trade deal Online guide, find it via globaljustice.org.uk/trade Trans-Pacific Powergrab Our 2018 briefing on the Trans Pacific Partnership Contact us to order these or find them at globaljustice.org.uk/resources
Aid watch Pushing private healthcare
Our latest report on the use of UK aid to privatise public services was published in January. Healthcare for all? How UK aid undermines universal public healthcare tracks the numerous ways in which UK aid has given £500 million to private hospitals and privatisation projects in Asia and Africa in the past decade. Among the worst examples are: • The now defunct Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund, the former CEO of which is facing fraud and corruption charges for his involvement in the “biggest collapse in private-equity history”. • Serious allegations of systemic overcharging made against a UK-backed hospital in Kenya. • Hospitals in Bangladesh and Pakistan accused of overcharging patients throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, including Evercare Dhaka and Evercare Lahore which lists its price for a hospital room with a ventilator as approximately £350 a day (over four times the average monthly wage). • Investments with no apparent development impact, including a “premium and budget” fitness club chain in Brazil which runs “one of the most expensive fitness centers based in Sao Paulo”, and a cosmetic surgery clinic in India. These funds continue the worrying trend that we have also seen in education where development funds have been redirected away from the public sector towards for-profit services that are unaffordable to many of the communities it claims to serve. Read the report via our website at globaljustice.org.uk/resources
Taking action As UK aid comes under increasing attack in the coming months, with a vote on aid
cuts expected in the Commons soon, now may seem an awkward time to be raising further criticisms of development policy. However, it is vital that we use this moment as an opportunity to put forward an honest appraisal of where aid has been effective and where it has not. It is not enough for us to defend aid, we also have to make it just. If you haven’t written to your MP about the aid cuts yet, you can use our online action at globaljustice.org.uk/no-cuts to do so. If you have, and you have received a reply suggesting that your MP opposes the aid cuts, please encourage them to sign EDM 1285 to register their disapproval and build cross-party opposition to the cuts. You can also sign and circulate our petition to Boris Johnson, telling him to stop hijacking the aid budget. You can find it at globaljustice.org.uk/aid Daniel is also happy to speak (to Global Justice Now groups or others) about our latest research, the corporate hijack of aid and how we can defend aid spending which is actually redistributive. To organise a talk email daniel.willis@globaljustice.org.uk.
Key resources NEW: Healthcare for all? How UK aid undermines universal public healthcare. 28-page report (January 2021). 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 February 2021 9
Groups news Global Justice Worthing held a Zoom meeting with our campaigner Daniel Willis speaking about the campaign to end UK government financing of fossil fuels overseas. They also wrote to their MP about the cuts to the aid budget and about the Trade Bill.
Global Justice Shropshire’s damp Christmas do!
Global Justice Shropshire has been meeting on Zoom on a monthly basis, and had an animated discussion about Rutger Bregman’s latest book, Humankind: A Hopeful History, in their November meeting. They’ve attempted some lobbying around both the Trade Bill and the Agriculture Bill, and a group member got their letter on trade, food standards and deregulation printed in a local paper. Their Christmas social featured socially distanced fish and chips in the park! (see picture) Rotherham for Global Justice has continued to meet on Zoom, got a letter on trade published in the local paper, and has been corresponding with their MPs about our campaigns. Global Justice Bradford has been using Zoom to meet monthly, and has benefitted from a rise in the number of active members over recent months. They hosted a talk from Daniel on aid and fossil fuels, and for their AGM welcomed Bradford West MP Naz Shah, who promised to take up their concerns around trade, aid cuts, and the expansion of Leeds-Bradford Airport, which will have huge consequences for carbon emissions. Global Justice Glasgow has continued to meet regularly online and has seen different people attend as a result. Group members 10 February 2021
did a mobile banner stunt around Glasgow for the trade day of action, and have started to plan how they will be involved in the mobilisations around the COP26 climate talks, which will be hosted in the city in November. Global Justice Ayrshire has been meeting online and have particularly been corresponding with their MPs about the abolition of DfID, cuts to the aid budget and it’s mis-use. Daniel Willis spoke to the group about the latter. They’ve also been engaging in the Trade Justice Scotland coaltion. Global Justice Cambridge were disappointed not to be able to do their usual Christmas street fundraising for Global Justice Now, but have continued to meet monthly online and have lobbied their MPs on debt, aid and trade. They joined in the People’s Vaccine day of action and have been raising awareness of this issue with allied groups in the city. Global Justice Reading contributed a talk on trade and climate change to the Reading Climate Festival programme, and hosted Global Justice Now’s Dorothy Guerrero at their January meeting to talk about the UN Binding Treaty on corporate accountability. Reading group co-ordinator Jackie asked everyone to make a New Year’s Resolution to read Think Global each month! If you want to ask members to do the same, remember anyone can sign up for the emails at globaljustice.org.uk/think-global
Youth network
The Cambridge group organised a wellattended ‘in real life’ protest for the US trade deal day of action. One member created a short video about our migration work viewable on the group’s Facebook page. As part of #endchildfoodpoverty they organised a ‘Trip to Tory HQ: Feed our kids’ protest
which 40 people attended. They worked closely with Movement Against Racism and Cambridge For Black Lives and Ana from the group spoke about this work on That’s TV West Anglia. They have also been running regular discussions with the Anglia Ruskin Uni philosophy society. Our Future Now (the London youth network group) have been running ‘active antiracism’ workshops, mainly for local Extinction Rebellion groups, an action around Amazon and Jeff Bezos’ wealth which went viral on Reddit, and on a lighter note, an online dating event for young lefties called Swipe Left! For their workshop ‘Climate Justice and the climate defenders’ the Brighton group had a four minute film about land defender Berta Caceres translated into English from Spanish (available from the activism team on request). This event led to an ongoing reading group. Leeds also now run a regular reading group for which they produce some fantastically designed materials. They have also led on running a network-wide online talk entitled Are We Generation Left?, with Keir Milburn, author of Generation Left. Stirling organised a talk with our head of policy Dorothy Guerrero and two migrant domestic workers from the organisation Waling Waling. Birmingham lead contact Ifrah contributed to our racism and the fight against climate change, which attracted around 80 people, and Northampton ran a Climate Justice workshop in mid January. A new group was also established in Nottingham. Finally, around 30 youth network members took action on the pharma day of action in December, alongside other members and supporters.
Upcoming events Activist Forum
All group members and potential group members invited! 7pm, Thursday 11 February Email activism@globaljustice.org.uk for a Zoom link. The aim of this forum is to talk through the challenges and best practices of organising Global Justice Now groups, particularly in times of Covid restrictions. We want to share the best experiences from groups around the country and to tackle any sticking points that groups may have experienced. That will include: • Allowing groups to share what they have and haven’t managed to do in various levels of restrictions • Talking about organising attractive, engaging online meetings • Doing meaningful activism in lockdowns and other restrictions. • Keeping a group communicating and supportive • Get a chance to ask questions of staff about campaign issues and resources available to help groups We’d love for multiple members from each group to come along, but even if there’s only one you, we hope everyone will end up feeling more part of the Global Justice Now community all around the UK.
Activist skills training
We emailed group contacts in January to see if anyone had feedback on a proposal for an online training course to develop activist skills which would take place over three or four weeks. An external facilitator will be developing the course, and we haven’t scheduled it yet, but we’re hoping it can go ahead in early spring - reduced capacity in the activism team permitting. February 2021 11
Our pharma campaign has had quite a lot of coverage in recent months, particularly the research we put out with the People’s Vaccine Alliance which attracted widespread coverage in the UK and around the world, including several broadcast interviews with our campaigner Heidi Chow (see picture right). The research was covreed by Al Jazeera, BBC World News, BBC 5 Live, BBC Scotland, BBC Wales, British Medical Journal, CNN, Daily Mail, Guardian, Independent, Newsweek, New York Times, Scotsman, Telegraph, as well as media in countries from Australia and India to Ghana and Brazil. We’ve also been variously quoted in Vice, New Statesman, Salon.com, City AM, Fortune, as well as again in the Guardian and Independent. Heidi Chow has written comments articles on vaccine access for Tribune and Jacobin, and had a letter in the Guardian. Our report into the history of Big Pharma was covered by the Mirror, and Nick Dearden wrote a comment piece for Open Democracy. Nick also wrote for Al Jazeera on Big Pharma back in October, and appeared on Deutsche Welle’s vodcast in January (see picture below). On aid, our report into CDC’s use of aid to fund private healthcare overseas generated two articles in the Times in January, and the Times ran another a story on CDC use of aid money to fund a shopping mall and luxury hotel in Mozambique in November. Nick wrote an article for New Internationalist in December on the need to stop this kind of misuse of aid as part of opposing the aid budget
Global Justice Now in the media
cuts. Daniel Willis wrote an article for the Ecologist on the UK’s pledge to stop funding fossil fuels overseas. On trade, photos from the US trade deal day of action in October ran on the Guardian website homepage and elsewhere. There was some good local coverage of the day of action including in Cambridge and Stourbridge. Following the US election, Nick wrote an article for the Guardian on what we can expect for the US trade deal under Biden, while extracts from his updated book were published in Peace News. On debt, our reaction to the G20’s weak response to the debt crisis was quoted in the Guardian in October, and Nick wrote an article for the New Internationalist. We were again quoted in the Guardian on the continuing need for debt cancellation in November.