THINK GLOBAL
Act locally with Global Justice Now
July 2018 
Contents 02 Welcome 03 News roundup 04 Trade justice 06 Stop Trump 07 Pharmaceuticals 08 Migrant solidarity 09 Internationalist Network 10 Groups and activism news 12 Current materials
Inserts Migration
• MPs not border guards postcards • Template letter to press
Trade
• E-commerce briefing (groups only)
General
• One World Week leaflets • Internationalist Network sign-up forms • Model motion for Internationalist Network (groups only) 2 July 2018
We can’t just turn our backs on Trump and hope he’ll go away Sam Lund-Harket Activism team “I have no intention of even giving him the time to march”. “Just ignore him and he’ll go away”. Among the enthusiastic responses to our call for people to march against Trump, we’ve also had these replies. It’s a reasonable response to a run of the mill attention seeker, but when that man is also an out and out racist and the most powerful man in the world, we can’t just turn our backs and hope he’ll go away. Trump’s abuses are so numerous it’s hard to know where to start. He’s stirred up hatred and xenophobia with his ‘Muslim ban’, promised to push up drug prices for the NHS through a US-UK trade deal, walked away from global climate talks, labelled Haiti and other developing nations as ‘sh**hole countries’, refused to condemn white supremacist violence in Charlottesville and much more. But Trump’s politics aren’t just isolated to the US. His racist, authoritarian populism is part of a global trend, twisting genuine grievances about the way the global economy works into hatred and peddaling racism to get into power. in the Phillipines, Rodrigo Duterte won the presidency promising to kill tens of thousands of criminals, and urging people to kill drug addicts. He’s since followed through on that. Last month, Italy’s populist Five Star Movement formed a coalition with the far-right Northern League to govern the country. They’ve since refused port to migrant rescue boats in the Mediterranean and started a ‘register’ of Roma people. Trump’s victory is bolstering the populist right across the world. Of course, Trump has to be defeated primarily in the US and US social movements are stepping up to the plate. But they’ve also been encouraging us to greet him with huge protests when he comes here. Under Theresa May, the UK is a key Trump ally, so it’s important that he can’t waltz in without significant opposition. Luckily tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands will be flooding to London on Friday 13 July to march against him (see page 6). To ignore Trump’s odious politics is to tolerate them, and we do that at our peril. We would do well to heed the words of Black liberationist author James Baldwin’s in his famous 1965 Cambridge speech: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced”
News from Global Justice Now Important staff changes
From the beginning of July, Aisha Dodwell, our policy manager on the migration and aid campaigns, is leaving to take up a new role as policy adviser to Kate Osamor, the shadow development secretary. As some of you may know, Global Justice Now is currently having to reduce the number of staff we employ in line with expected income. One thing that can mean is redeployment when people leave, rather than recruiting a replacement. As a result, Ed Lewis will be leaving the activism team to replace Aisha in the policy team. As Think Global went to press, exactly how Ed’s responsibilities will be shared by the team had not been finalised. Once it has, we will be sure to communicate to groups. In the meantime, groups can continue to contact Sam, Laura or James with general requests or enquiries, and/or to email the team inbox, activism@globaljustice.org.uk. And of course you’ll still be able to contact Ed in relation to migration campaigning.
…and to Think Global
With more communications shifting from paper onto the web and In order to deliver timely and helpful group support within the constraints of reduced staff capacity, we’ve decided to shift more Think Globals over to email. We won’t stop the printed version altogether, but from the autumn the printed version will come out only three times a year.
Action checklist
In order to ensure this has no impact on the timely distribution of materials, we will also do occasional bulk mailings of new campaign materials to groups where necessary. We currently plan to produce a print Think Global for February, June and October, with Think Global Extra emailed in all other months, apart from August and December which are generally quieter times for campaigning. We hope with these changes we will be striking a balance between time spent on communications and other supportingh work. But feedback is welcome.
Media coverage
On migration, the Independent covered the launch of our MPs not border guards campaign. Photos of our hostile environment protest outside the Home Office the morning after Amber Rudd resigned were used on the BBC and Guardian websites. On trade, our briefing on Big Tech and the global south was covered in the Observer in May, and re-reported in several media outlets across Africa. We also had a story on the threat to scotch whisky of a trade deal with Trump in the Observer, several Scottish papers and BBC Radio 4. On Trump, our calls for protests have been covered in the Scotsman, and on the Common Dreams news site.
Pharmaceuticals Use the stalls pack to get signatures on the BEIS petition Trade Lobby your MP about the Trade Bill Migration Engage your MP about the hostile environment
Write to your local paper Organise a stall and/or a public meeting General Protest against Trump on 13 July Approach relevant local groups to sign up to the internationalist Network July 2018 3
Trade justice
Shadow trade secretary Barry Gardiner and Green MP Caroline Lucas at our Trade Bill Takedown event.
The Trade Bill returns
It’s back! After many months, it seems likely that the Trade Bill will return to the floor of the House of Commons sometime in July in all its awful glory. At the time of writing we don’t have an exact date but by the time you read this, parliament may well already be on the brink of passing a law that does nothing to give us the trade democracy we need. When the Trade Bill does come back, expect all the media headlines to be about whether the so-called Tory “rebels” (who don’t actually seem to rebel all that often unfortunately) decide to try and amend it to force the government to consider entering a customs union with the EU. If, as we expect, they don’t actually rebel on the customs union, attention may well finally turn to the problem of securing trade democracy.
Keep the pressure up! All of this means that we have to make sure MPs know that they need to back trade 4 July 2018
democracy and pass something like the NC3 amendment tabled by Caroline Lucas. There are still campaign postcards asking your MP to support the amendment in stock so please order more if you need them. Email activism@globaljustice.org.uk or call 020 7820 4900 to order them. Also, if you have not already done so, please do write to your MP or better still arrange a meeting. Many MPs are sending quite bland letters in response to group members so talking in person could be more effective. Obviously, with the Trade Bill due to come back any week now, the sooner all of this is done the better. Though even if the bill does come back in July, it’s possible the House of Lords will seek to amend it, like it did the EU Withdrawal Bill. In that case, we might not see the Trade Bill finalised until after recess in autumn. So while time is definitely of the essence, don’t assume it’s too late to pressure your MP on this until things change.
Trade Bill in Scotland In Scotland, the Trade Bill is still sitting with the Finance and Constitution Committee while they decide whether or not to recommend that the Scottish parliament withhold its consent. As with the EU Withdrawal Bill, the Scottish parliament can chose not to consent to this bill. Although this does not have any legal clout, ignoring Scotland’s voice on the trade bill would worsen the already fragile relationship between Westminster and the Scottish government. There are rumours that a UK minister will be coming to give evidence on the bill at Holyrood imminently. We have our chicken costumes at the ready!
New materials Briefing: E-pocalypse Now Enclosed you will find copies of our new briefing E-pocalypse Now. This is about how Big Tech firms like Google, Amazon and Uber and plotting the new ‘digital colonisation’ of the global south through trade deals.
CETA passed in parliment
On 26 June, the UK parliament voted to ratify CETA, the Canada-EU trade deal. In the end Labour decided to abstain rather than vote against the deal, although many individual Labour MPs actually voted for it. The SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Greens voted against. Nevertheless, the vote was essentially a PR stunt by Liam Fox since he wasn’t obliged by law or parliamentary procedure to bring it to MPs for a vote. Precisely because of the criticism we and others have leveled, he wanted to give the illusion of scrutiny ahead of the return of the Trade Bill to parliament in the coming weeks. CETA is exactly the sort of trade deal that Liam Fox would love to sign after Brexit. Unless the Trade Bill is amended to bring in trade democracy, CETA could be the last trade deal MPs ever vote on.
These firms like to project a young, hip image but actually they are all about establishing monopolies and profiting from their intimate knowledge of our daily lives. We’re already living in a world where taxi drivers in Bangladesh are paying large chunks of their tiny income to Uber and guesthouse owners in Nepal are doing the same to AirBnB. This briefing will tell you all you need to know about this silent coup going on in the global economy and what we might be able to do to stop it. If you have any questions about this work, get in touch with Alex Scrivener at alex.scrivener@globaljustice.org.uk
Booklet - post-Brexit trade deals in Scotland We have produced a booklet with more information on how Scotland will be affected by post-Brexit trade deals View it online here: globaljustice.org.uk/resources/scottish-trade Order copies from the Scotland office by emailing jane.herbstritt@globaljustice.org.uk July 2018 5
Stop Trump Global Justice Now has been working as part of the Stop Trump coalition to organise a ‘carnival of resistance’ to Donald Trump when he visits the UK on 13 July. In London the coalition and other organisations are putting on a march and rally under the banner Together Against Trump (see below). It is also encouraging people to organise their own autonomous, creative protests wherever they can. A giant inflatable baby Trump is expected to be flying somewhere above London on the morning of 13 July. There are coaches organised from various places around the country to London for the day, as well as local protests in some places, either on 13 July or the evening of 12 July as Trump arrives. For details of coaches and other protests, see stoptrump.org.uk/events.
Join the Chicken Bloc!
As well as helping with the coalition work, Global Justice Now will join the demo as a group. We’re running with the chlorinated chicken theme we used in our Liam Fox stunt in April in order to bring a bit of fun to
the protest. For anyone able to attend the London demo, we’ve got some full chicken suits for those who want them (email guy. taylor@globaljustice.org.uk), or make your own chicken-based accessory! Alternatively you could help give out leaflets about the dangers of a US-UK trade deal, or just carry a flag or your local group banner. Chicken Bloc at Together Against Trump Friday 13 July Assemble 1.30pm outside the Polish Embassy at the junction of Portland Place and Weymouth Street. See globaljustice.org.uk/ events for more.
Scotland Against Trump
Scotland Against Trump has called a demo in Edinburgh on 14 July, when Trump is expected to go to Scotland to play golf. Scotland United Against Trump Saturday 14 July Assemble 12 noon, Scottish parliament – Meadows.
Chicken suited protestors at Liam Fox’s constituency offices
6 July 2018
Pharmaceuticals Summer stall pack
There is still time to run a stall this summer based on our pharmaceuticals campaign. Our summer stall pack provides you with all the materials you will need for a stall at festivals, events and markets. We have designed a simple game as a conversational starter as well as supporting materials to help you to engage the public on the campaign and raise public awareness. It also includes paper copies of our petition to BEIS ( the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) calling for conditions to be attached to publicly funded medicines so they’re affordable and accessible to all.
and bullying by Novartis for trying to make a leukemia medicine affordable. Colombia, along with all other countries who are members of the WTO, are legally entitled to issue a ‘compulsory licence’ to make medicines available at a cheaper price. A compulsory licence enables governments to override an existing patent in the interests of public health and allow other producers to make that drug. Last month our allies in the global coalition handed in the petition to Novartis in Geneva at the World Health Assembly.
Scotland: pharma petition hand-in Campaigners in Scotland have been calling on the Scottish government to stand up to pharmaceutical company Roche. Scottish patients cannot access life-prolonging breast cancer drug Perjeta, though it is now available in England and Wales, because NHS Scotland has said they cannot afford the high price Roche is charging. We are calling for the Scottish government to issue a special license that would allow other companies to make and sell the drug at a cheaper price.
The Price isn’t Right game
To order your pack, email activism@ globaljustice.org.uk. We will be mailing the packs on request but please allow at least a week before your stall (preferably more) to ensure you receive it in time.
Pushing for governments to take action on high drug prices
We have been supporting patientactivist organisation Just Treatment on this campaign. Together we collected over 5000 signatures for a petition to the Scottish government. Last week, we joined campaigner and breast cancer patient Fiona Morrison to hand in the petition to the Scottish government cabinet secretary for health, Shona Robison.
For the past few months we have been running a global online petition calling on the big pharmaceutical company, Novartis to stand down from its bullying tactics. The government of Colombia had faced threats July 2018 7
Migrant solidarity
Global Justice Now activists and others protest against the hostile environment outside the Home Office
New hostile environment campaign - MPs not border guards In late June, together with Migrants Organise, we launched a new reactive campaign as part of our work resisting the government’s hostile environment policy. We are calling on MPs to publicly pledge they won’t participate in the hostile environment by reporting constituents to the Home Office for immigration crime. In its first week the campaign has got off to a strong start, the pledge being signed by over 40 MPs from Labour, the Lib Dems, Green Party, the SNP and Plaid Cymru. Signatories include David Lammy, Diane Abbott and Caroline Lucas.
Why does this matter? Data from Freedom of Information requests and parliamentary questions shows hundreds of people have been reported to the Home Office by MPs in recent years. This is unacceptable in a democratic society. Everyone should have the right to safely meet their MP and expect representation without fear of being detained or deported. That is why we are asking people to write to their MPs and get them to take a public pledge that makes clear they will never report constituents for immigration crimes. This will send a strong message to people 8 July 2018
living in their constituency that they can visit their MP without fear. It also makes clear that opposition to the inhumane hostile environment is growing across all facets of society. After the Windrush scandal, the government is on the back foot - we need to use this opportunity to challenge the hostile environment and build a more welcoming society.
Take action
The first thing to do is check if your MP has signed the pledge at globaljustice.org.uk/ mps-not-border-guards-pledge-signatories
If your MP hasn’t yet signed… If they haven’t, then there’s a set of things you can do, using the materials enclosed to help: • Arrange a meeting with your MP • Write to the local paper, with the template letter included in this mailing • Organise a stall to get constituents to sign the action card • Organise a public meeting about the hostile environment, with this as a key issue to focus on Contact Ed (ed.lewis@globaljustice.org.uk
or 020 7820 4900) for advice on organising a public meeting.
...And if they have If your MP has already signed the pledge, then encourage them to do more on the issue. They should make clear to their constituents the stance they have taken through a statement on their website, and be trying to convince their parliamentary colleagues to do likewise. So, even in this case we’d still encourage you to arrange a meeting with them and write to your local paper. You could also invite them as a speaker at a public meeting on the issue.
Welcoming communities
We are also working with Migrants Organise to build strong local opposition to the hostile environment and create more welcoming communities. Global Justice Cambridge and others are working towards an event in Cambridge in the autumn to take this work forward. If you would like to organise something like this yourself, contact Ed Lewis (details above).
Internationalist Network As mentioned in the May edition of Think Global, we’ve launched a new way of involving people in our campaigning through existing local organisations which they are already involved in. Local trade union branches and branches of progressive political parties are for many people the main way they engage in politics. By signing up some of these organisations as local allies of Global Justice Now, we hope they will act as multipliers for our campaigns, ensure more people hear about us and increase the social weight of our activist network. It has long been the case that such organisations could affiliate to Global Justice Now, but arguably the cost created a barrier to taking the first step. With the Internationalist Network, the first step is free, with affiliation a possible second step, and greater numbers means we can set
up a specific ‘offer’ to such groups, with a periodic mailing and so on. We hope that it can be the start of lots of campaigning relationships which can also involve local groups, but which help us reach areas where we have no groups as well. Included with this issue of Think Global are forms for signing organisations up to the Internationalist Network, plus a model motion for affiliation should that be necessary. If you’re in a trade union branch or a branch of a political party compatible with our outlook, please consider putting joining the Internationalist Network on the agenda of an upcoming meeting. Organisations can also sign up online at globaljustice.org.uk/internationalist-network To order more copies of the leaflets, or for questions about the Internationalist Network, call Effie on 020 7820 4900 or email effie.jordan@globaljustice.org.uk. July 2018 9
Activism and events news The World We Want reportback Around 150 crowded into the Priory Street Centre in York for the public conference we held after our AGM. It featured author Jason Hickel, local MP Rachael Maskell and Anke Kleff from the radical citizens’ platform Barcelona en Comú, together with a host of short workshops on the kinds of systemic alternatives we want to see. Anke was particularly well received as she brought some real hope for change from the Catalan capital. We sold all the copies we brought of Jason Hickel’s book The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and Its Solutions, and got lots of positive feedback from an enthusiastic audience – 17 of whom joined Global Justice Now at the event. Thanks to York Trade Justice, our local event partner, for their efforts in making it such a successful event.
Council election results The results of the election to council were announced at our AGM on 16 June. For those not able to attend, the following people were elected, in order of the number of votes received: • • • • • • • • •
Louise Taylor Nicola Ansell Asad Rehman Steve Rolfe Josefine Brons Susanne Schuster Martin Powell Jean Blaylock Andrew Taylor
The four area reps also nominated two of their number to sit on council: Mary Steiner and Eve Nortley. The council will elect a chair, national secretary and treasurer from among their number at their first meeting on 7 July.
York MP Rachel Maskel speaks alongside Jason Hickel at The World We Want
10 July 2018
Global Justice Glasgow ran a very busy, successful stall at Glasgow Mela, collecting hundreds of signatures for the online Hostile Environment action. They took Paddington and his wee nephew, who has unfortunately been detained! The group have also been active at other local events about migrant rights and joined protests against an international arms fair conference in Glasgow. Global Justice Cambridge organised a stall at a local carnival, where people keen to protect the NHS willingly supported the pharmaceuticals campaign. The group are are also starting to work with Migrants Organise and local groups on exposing and resisting the government’s “hostile environment” policies. Global Justice Portsmouth members are working with Hope Not Hate to have an event about Trump and the far right in early July. They have also been busy getting ideas ready for One World Week in the Autumn and building links with other local groups to ensure a successful series of events. Global Justice Merseyside ran a stall at Lark Lane Farmers Market, drumming up support for the NC3 amendment to the trade bill (below).
Global Justice Reading organised stalls at Reading Waterfest and at East Reading Festival to promote the pharma campaign (above). They used the ‘price isn’t right’ game, which was an effective way of getting the message out about rip-off drug prices - and even shocked lcoal MP Matt Rodda, who visited one of their stalls. Global Justice Bexhill and Hastings ran a stall at the annual garden party of the Hospital League of Friends, using the ‘Price isn’t Right’ game, and were able to spread the word about the pharma campaign effectively. Global Justice Worthing organised a wellattended public film screening of ‘The Spider’s Web’ at their local Quaker Meeting House on 10 June, and have an upcoming event on the hostile environment with Dorothy Grace Guerrero, Global Justice Now’s head of policy.
July 2018 11
Current materials Our main campaigns
Other work
Pharmaceuticals
Climate and energy justice
• SUMMER STALLS PACK • LEAFLET: Stop drugs companies ripping off the NHS • MP BRIEFING: Pill and profits • REPORT: Pills and profits • LEAFLET: Sick of corporate greed • ACTION CARD: Sick? • CAMPAIGN FACTSHEET: Overview of the campaign • POSTER: imagine if the NHS couldn’t afford the medicine to save your life
Trade
• *NEW* BRIEFING: E-pocolypse Now (e-commerce) • MP BRIEFING: Trade Bill • ACTION GUIDE: Twenty ways to fight for trade democracy • BRIEFING: Giving away control • DISCUSSION PAPER: Ten alternatives to a corporate trade agenda • BRIEFING: Trading with Trump
Migration
• *NEW* POSTCARDS MPs not border guards • *NEW* HOW TO TALK TO YOUR MP. MPs not border guards • BRIEFING: Hostile environment • ILLUSTRATED BOOKLET: Free movement • BRIEFING: Migrant crisis or poverty crisis?
Aid
• REPORT: The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund • REPORT: Re-imagining UK aid • BRIEFING: Re-imagining UK aid executive summary • REPORT: Honest Accounts 2017 - How the world profits from Africa’s wealth • REPORT: The privatisation of UK aid • REPORT: Gated development
• LEAFLET: Change the system, not the climate • LEAFLET: Repowering the future: Municipal energy in practice • BRIEFING: Towards a just energy system
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
Exploring alternatives booklets
• BOOKLET: Another Economy is Possible economic democracy • BOOKLET: Seeds of Change - food sovereignty • BOOKLET: Rays of Hope - energy justice
General materials
• *NEW* FLYERS AND POSTERS: The World We Want promotion • ACTIVIST READER: Making Another World Possible • 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
Scotland specific materials
• BRIEFING: Scottish migration briefing • BRIEFING: Update for trade campaigners • BRIEFING: Principles for a just trade system
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