Think Global, October 2022

THINK GLOBAL

Act locally with Global Justice Now

Callum Bennetts

Inserts

Another World is Possible

Another World is Possible stickers

Another World is Possible

briefing

About Us groups leaflet

reparations

Make polluters pay leaflet

Climate reparations

Defeating the Truss government’s extreme economics is possible

Nick Dearden Director

The first few weeks of Liz Truss’ government have demonstrated very clearly that she and her chancellor are hellbent on an extreme economic programme.

They may have been forced into an embarrassing U-turn on the abolition of the 45p rate of tax on earnings above £150,000 a year, but the overall direction remains. The heart of it is the theory of ‘trickle-down economics’ which claims that tax giveaways to the richest will spur growth and end up making life better for those at the bottom.

In fact, it’s a smokescreen to allow more and more public wealth to be diverted into the hands of corporations and the rich, and lay the ground for a new round of austerity cuts for everybody else. This is the kind of disaster capitalism we’ve seen employed across the global south over several decades, and today it’s being tried in the UK once again. We’ve already seen what this can do to our economy.

Yet if there’s one thing that could make this situation even worse, it’s sowing the seeds of the next financial crisis by deregulating the banks. From removing the cap on bankers’ bonuses to giving the financial regulator a mission to remove regulations, Truss wants to give even more power to the City of London to gamble with people’s lives.

Through the Financial Services and Markets Bill, currently making its way through parliament, the government will remove rules on the very speculators who have been driving up food and energy prices in order to make a quick buck (see page 12). This is not just about Britain. The activities of British finance have a global impact. Speculation and tax avoidance in London fuels poverty, inequality and conflict around the world. What’s more, Truss has promised to scrap environmental protections that get in the way of financial ‘investment’.

fossil fuel firms

But here’s where I derive some hope – the ‘banker’s budget’ has horrified people across the spectrum. The outpouring of anger has been overwhelming. Truss’s government has underestimated our ability to challenge and halt these policies. Over the autumn, we must build new alliances to resist this trickle-down economic programme. For the sake of the whole world, we cannot hand ever more power to the financial sector. But I believe more confidently than ever that, together, we can stop it.

News from Global Justice Now

In the media

Global Justice Sheffield’s Oliver Blensdorf got a full-page opinion piece published in the Sheffield Telegraph about loss and damage ahead of our day of action (right).

In Scotland, our Stirling youth group was featured in The National after they organised a protest against the Rwanda deportations and Liz Murray was interviewed in a piece on vaccines for the Sunday Post.

In pharma news, Nick Dearden had a comment piece in the Guardian on monkeypox vaccine access and Tim Bierley spoke to Pink News about our campaign for Bavarian Nordic to share the patent rights to the monkeypox vaccine in the face of an international shortage. Our monkeypox campaign was also covered by Politico and the BBC. Tim also wrote a long read for the Verso website on how privatised medicines fail the world.

Daniel Willis spoke to the BBC about Pakistan’s calls for climate reparations and we placed a piece by our ally Farooq Tariq, general secretary of the Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee, in the Nov/Dec issue of New Internationalist

Action checklist

Climate reparations

demanding Pakistan’s debts be cancelled so they can prioritise rebuilding their economy. Daniel also spoke to the Jeremy Vine show on soaring energy costs and the need for reparations across the world.

On the Energy Charter Treaty, Cleodie Rickard was quoted in the Guardian, Climate Home and Thomson Reuters after Rockhopper won its ISDS case against Italy. Nick Dearden spoke to Common Dreams about grain giants’ profits and worked with Ann Pettifor on a piece in the Financial Times about speculation on food and energy prices and the Financial Services Bill.

Report from council

Nicola Ansell, chair of council writes: Our council meeting in June was the first to be held at the Offley Road office since the start of the pandemic. When our meetings were on Zoom, we focused very much on the business at hand, to avoid staring at screens for too many hours. On this occasion we had a full day and relatively few pressing issues, so we were able to take time to reflect in depth on both our pharma and trade campaigns, with input from those leading them.

We were also able to spend time considering the implications of the wider political context for our future direction. As some Council members hadn’t previously visited the building, we went on a guided tour, and appreciated the opportunity to have lunch together.

Look for opportunities to build support for our demands on loss and damage ahead of COP27, eg. at stalls or meetings. Decide whether to join in with the global day of action for climate justice on 12 November.

Write to your MP about speaking out in favour of loss and damage funding.

Trade and climate Decide what action you could do around 4 November on the Energy Charter Treaty.

Events Plan a Christmas social as a group-building event!

Climate reparations

Torrential floods in August left much of Pakistan under water, displacing millions, killing over 1500 people and 800,000 livestock, and destroying countless hectares of crops. The floods followed a season of extreme heat which is getting worse each year.

As Farooq Tariq, who spoke at our national gathering in Sheffield, has written: “The people of Pakistan are the latest victims of a global crisis to which they have contributed almost nothing — and which has instead been driven by the excess emissions of rich countries and corporate polluters. This fundamental injustice is at the root of increasing demands for climate reparations from Pakistan and the wider global south.”

His short article is included with this issue of Think Global. In it, he argues for ‘loss and damage’ finance and debt cancellation as two key areas for a climate reparations agenda. These are both areas we’re doing practical campaigning work on, but you’ll also find a new briefing enclosed with this Think Global explaining the concept of climate reparations in more general terms, building on our national gathering in July.

Loss and damage

Demands by global south countries for compensation for damage caused by climate change, known as ‘loss and damage’ in UN climate talks parlance, have so far been ignored by rich countries, but there are renewed efforts in the run up to COP27 in Egypt this November. Our campaign so far has been to try to get the UK government to support the principle of a Loss and Damage Fund at the UN, and for a commitment to tax fossil fuel corporations to pay for the UK’s contribution.

More recently global south countries have made proposals for global taxes, potentially on carbon, aviation and shipping, which would have the added value of disincentivising highly-polluting activities.

Loss and damage action day

Global Justice Now’s local groups and members played a leading role in Loss and Damage Action Day on 22 September, which saw 14 different actions held around the country.

The day of action was called by the Make Polluters Pay Coalition (Global Justice Now, Stamp Out Poverty, Quakers, Christian Aid,

A protest at Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station organised by Global Justice Nottingham on Loss and Damage action day.

Oxfam, Loss and Damage Youth Coalition) to build pressure on the UK government to stop blocking and start supporting proposals for climate compensation. Global Justice Now groups in Bexhill, Buxton, Cambridge, Macclesfield, Portsmouth, Rotherham and Worthing made banners, handed out leaflets and signed up members of the public to our petition. Our Nottingham group organised a protest outside Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, while in Edinburgh we organised a photo stunt outside the UK government building to highlight how fossil fuel corporations are making billions from the climate and cost of living crises. In London we joined a silent vigil outside Shell’s offices followed by a demonstration in Parliament Square.

Following the day of action, we are encouraging supporters to keep up the pressure by writing to their MPs in support of loss and damage. We are also planning actions with allies from the global south in the run up to COP27. We will also soon be sending a joint letter to the prime minister highlighting the breadth of support for loss and damage, so thank you for taking action.

Loss and damage leaflet

Enclosed with this edition of Think Global you’ll find copies of our loss and damage leaflet, making a basic case for climate compensation and with a link to the online petition. Feel free to

order more for activities up until mid-November – email activism@globaljustice.org.uk

Take action

You can write to your MP in support of loss and damage and to ask them to sign EDM 374. Visit globaljustice.org.uk/climate to use our template form or contact daniel.willis@globaljustice.org. uk for guidance.

12 November

There will be a global day of action for climate justice on 12 November when we will be again making our demands for climate reparations heard loud and clear.

The Climate Justice Coalition (CJC, formerly COP26 Coalition) will be organising demonstrations in London, Edinburgh and possibly Cardiff, which they hope to get people out to in significant numbers. We’ll be mobilising for these demos, and organising a Global Justice Now meetup at those in London and Edinburgh.

CJC are also calling for people in other cities and regions to organise their own actions on the day. Those who still have active local coalitions may find things already being planned, but if not, feel free to contact activism@globaljustice.org. uk for help with what you can do. Travelling to one of the centralised demos as a group is also an option.

Loss and damage protest at the UK government building in Edinburgh Callum Bennetts/Maverick Press Agency

Debt

There have been widespread calls for debt cancellation to support economic and climate justice this month, particularly in the wake of the devastating floods in Pakistan.

With Zambia now in negotiations with big banks over how to restructure their debt, we demonstrated outside Blackrock’s offices in London and handed in our joint action to Blackrock CEO Larry Fink calling on him to cancel Zambia’s debt – thank you to everyone who signed. The UK debt coalition also helped to co-ordinate a letter, covered by the Guardian, which was signed by over 100 renowned international economists calling on Blackrock and other private lenders to offer Zambia a just resolution to negotiations.

We also took part in online days of action organised by allies in the global south, calling for debt cancellation for Sri Lanka and Pakistan. And we joined a demonstration in Leeds, organised by the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Justice Coalition, calling for debt cancellation and climate reparations for Pakistan.

This month, we will be again working together with allies internationally and in the UK on Global Days of Action for Debt Cancellation between 10-14 October.

Take action

You could write to your MP in support of debt cancellation for Zambia, Pakistan or Sri Lanka and to call for legislation to protect countries from being sued for outstanding debts. Contact daniel.willis@globaljustice.org.uk for guidance.

Let us know if you are interested in taking part in the Global Days of Action for Debt Cancellation in October.

Colonialism and debt resource Debt Justice (formerly Jubilee Debt Campaign) has produced a set of education resources on the theme of debt and the legacies of colonialism. It includes a twominute video, a briefing and a discussion pack. This could be suitable for a group discussion, or for an education and outreach opportunity.

See debtjustice.org.uk/colonialism

Key resources

NEW Make polluters pay A5 petition leaflet (September 2022).

NEW Reparations and climate justice Eight-page briefing (September 2022).

Cancel Zambia’s debt A5 leaflet (2022).

End the debt trap: Cancel Zambia’s debt Four-page briefing (July 2021).

See globaljustice.org.uk/resources and order from activism@globaljustice.org.uk

Caroline Lucas MP speaks at the loss and damage protest in Parliament Square, London.

People’s Vaccine campaign

The intellectual property agreement reached at the World Trade Organisation in June showed that pharma monopolies had failed. But its watering down and endless delay also showed that the WTO is essentially unreformable. So, while we will continue campaigning to dismantle international patent systems that treat science and knowledge as if they were trophies and not public goods, we will also widen our focus. In particular, this is an important moment to support alternative systems that are already growing in defiance of these norms.

South Africa’s mRNA hub

That’s why in September we organised a parliamentary and media delegation to visit, and build support for, a ground-breaking vaccine manufacturing project in Cape Town. The hub, which has reverse-engineered Moderna’s mRNA vaccine and started sharing everything it has learned with 14 countries across the global south and eastern Europe, has a clear vision of what an alternative pharma system could look like. It is one based on collaboration, not greed and monopoly. It is one that seeks to put people’s lives above profit, and which ends the pharmaceutical industry’s neglect of people in the global south.

Vitally, the hub won’t stop at developing Covid-19 vaccines, but will use mRNA technology to combat diseases such as HIV and TB, which affect billions of people in the global south and which receive paltry funding from big pharma. It is clearly a huge challenge to the pharma establishment, with hostile organisations already lobbying hard against it, so we will be building support for it.

Pharma in the UK

While Boris Johnson’s government was a disaster for global medicines access, the early signs suggest that Liz Truss’ administration may turn out to be even worse. In the coming months, we will be highlighting the heavy strain that inflated medicine costs put on the NHS,

especially when so many of them are developed with taxpayers’ money. And we’ll be laying down our demands for new systems that treat medical research as a public good – available to scientists around the world.

And since right-wing ideologues and pharma lobbyists continue to protest that taking away their mega-profits would dry up our medicines supply, we’ll keep exposing how this industry is broken beyond repair. Our campaigning around the recent outbreak of monkeypox is one such example, where once again, we have seen a publicly-funded vaccine privatised, monopolised and then either kept from large parts of the world or sold at eye-watering prices.

Please do keep campaigning, and we’ll be launching a new phase in the new year.

Key resources

Ten reasons why we need a new pharma system Two-page A4 factsheet (2022).

Who wants to be a pharma billionaire? Game for use on stalls (2022).

UK government: Suspend the patents Petition sheet (no postcards left). Four-page A5 leaflets (2021).

Fighting for a People’s Vaccine Supporter briefing, four pages (September 2021).

Order via activism@globaljustice.org.uk

Our packed pharma session at The World Transformed.

Trade and climate

Discussing the Energy Charter Treaty, trade deals and climate with European and Latin American allies at the Attac European Summer University in Germany this August.

Two months to stop the ECT

We’ve got between now and the end of November to get the UK and countries across Europe to leave the Energy Charter Treaty. We’ve got some hopeful signals and some worrying developments – it’s all to play for!

To recap, we’re calling for countries to exit the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) so that fossil fuel companies cannot use it to block climate action. But some countries are instead trying to just greenwash the treaty with some weak reform proposals to ‘modernise’ it. In June a package of proposals were cleared to be submitted to the annual conference of the ECT which is in November – proposals that would give fossil fuel companies ten more years to keep suing in corporate courts and blocking climate action. But while the member countries agreed to put this package on the table for discussion, many of them are not convinced by the proposals and are not necessarily going to approve them.

The good news

The good news is that Spain and Poland have both already publicly said that they are planning to leave the ECT – they don’t think the modernisation proposals are adequate and they think exiting is a better option.

The Dutch parliament has voted for exit. France and Germany also continue to have doubts and are weighing up their options.

What we, and campaigners all across Europe are calling for are for these countries, and others who have expressed concerns, to come together in a coordinated withdrawal from the ECT. The coordinated aspect would allow countries to agree not to let each other be sued on the way out – the sunset clause, which says countries can continue to be sued for 20 years after they leave, could be largely nullified.

If this core of countries comes together, we believe this could snowball, gaining impetus and bringing other countries with them. While the UK at present is going along with the modernisation, if the momentum turns instead toward a coordinated withdrawal, with enough pressure the UK could be persuaded to step up and join the exit.

The bad news

The bad news is that meanwhile the fossil fuel companies continue to sue. In the summer we had yet another eye-watering verdict when UK oil company Rockhopper won its case against Italy over a ban on offshore oil drilling. It won

over £210 million, six times more than the company’s actual investment in the drilling project. Its share price immediately shot up, as the company is treating this win as a financial asset which will help it move on to open a new climate-destroying project drilling for oil off the Falklands.

Campaigning

The ECT conference is on 22 November, so that’s our target date. We’re continuing to reach out to the climate movement about the ECT and raising its visibility in the media – corporate courts are outrageous, and the more people know about them, the harder they are to justify.

We’re planning for a big action at the start of November ahead of the conference. We’re talking with allies about doing an action on Friday 4 November at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). This is the department responsible both for energy and climate, and together with the trade ministry it has joint responsibility for the UK’s membership of the ECT. The new minister is Jacob Rees-Mogg.

One of the first actions of Liz Truss’s government has been to lift the UK’s moratorium on fracking. Ascent Resources is a UK company currently using the ECT to sue Slovenia over its ban on fracking. We’re planning to use the action to highlight the case and the risks the ECT poses to climate action.

We’ll do a final hand-in of the petition probably on the same day (4 Nov). It would be great if groups are able to collect a last round of signatures on the petition. We’ve included some copies of an updated version of the flyer that has a QR code link to the petition.

Locally you could:

• Hold a stall to tell people about the ECT and collect signatures on the petition

• Hold a webinar or public event – we’d be happy to provide a speaker (contact jean. blaylock@globaljustice.org.uk or cleodie. rickard@globaljustice.org.uk )

• Consider doing an action on or around Friday 4 November – a demonstration,

banner drop, photo action, subvertising or something similar. You could use imagery around Jacob Rees-Mogg, Halloween, Bonfire Night and fracking.

• Write to your local newspaper about the ECT or see if you can get them to cover an event that you are doing.

Updated leaflet

At the request of the Macclesfield group we’ve updated the Five fossil fuel firms leaflet again to reflect the Rockhopper award against Italy and latest developments with countries in the EU. Some are included with this issue of Think Global for group contacts.

ECT motion at the Scottish parliament

A reminder that there is still time for those in Scotland to persuade your local MSPs to sign up to the Scottish parliament motion calling for the UK to exit the Energy Charter Treaty. Twentyone MSPs have signed up so far from Labour and the SNP. However, no Green MSPs have signed up and we think they should. So make sure you include your local Green MSP when you write.

You can use our online email tool: globaljustice.org.uk/MSP-ECT

Key resources

Five fossil fuel firms... Petition leaflet (updated September 2022).

Corporate courts versus the climate Photo booklet (February 2022).

Climate injustice How corporate courts block climate action. Four-page briefing (March 2021).

How trade deals are fuelling climate breakdown Four-sided A5 leaflet (September 2021).

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

Local groups and activism news

Global Justice Richmond and Kingston held a discussion on climate justice as part of Transition Town Kingston’s Greenzone event.

Global Justice Bradford members are continuing their weekly picket of West Yorkshire Pension Fund to demand divestment from fossil fuels, now an incredible run of 44 weeks uninterrupted! There’s been recent press coverage and letters published, hopefully signs of a campaign gaining strength. In midSeptember the group organised a film night attracting 30+ people, and group members also took part in the loss and damage day of action (photo top right).

Global Justice Reading has done a good number of stalls at various festivals and events over the summer, campaigning for monopolies on vaccines, tests and treatments to be lifted.

Global Justice Portsmouth held a stall at an anti-racism event in July, and took part in the loss and damage day of action with other groups (photo bottom right).

Global Justice Bexhill and Hastings used the game ‘Who Wants to be a Pharma Billionaire?’ to great effect, getting ‘winners’ to donate their ‘winnings’ to climate, water or renewable energy. They also held a climate themed stall in Hastings in August.

Scottish winter gathering

Saturday 10 Dec, 11-4.30pm

Augustine Church, Edinburgh + online

A chance to find out the latest on our campaigns and the fight for a fairer fossilfree world, including from international speakers, and plan local action in Scotland together. Afterwards there will be a festive social with mince pies and warming drinks.

Further details tba. Questions to: thorn.house@globaljustice.org.uk

Global Justice Edinburgh used its monthly stall at Usher Hall to campaign against the Energy Charter Treaty.

Global Justice Brighton and Hove has continued to re-group, meeting for a picnic and getting more people on the group’s contact list and building up a formidable stock of the pamphlet The Case for Climate Justice!

Global Justice Glasgow held a stall at the Mela over the summer, and group members are looking forward to their first in-person meeting in October.

Global Justice Ayrshire has re-established a regular monthly meeting, and held a hybrid meeting on COP27 in Egypt with Dorothy Guerrero, Global Justice Now head of policy, which attracted 20 people.

The summer is normally a quiet time for the youth network, but this year we were very involved in the protests to stop the Rwanda deportation flights. We were some of the founding members of a new coalition, Action Against Detention and Deportations, which spent the summer organising solidarity demonstrations at detention centres across the UK.

A particular highlight was when Global Justice Stirling organised a demonstration at Dungavel House, South Lanarkshire. They managed to coordinate a bus full of speakers and protesters from different local organisations to an isolated location, where they protested in solidarity with detained people there and in opposition to the government’s increasingly hostile environment.

Lots of planning has also gone into this year’s round of freshers’ fairs, which are an important opportunity to pick up new members and have happened throughout September. We organised stalls spanning 15 universities all over the country, some in new universities, like Bristol and Glasgow, and some in areas where we already have strong established youth groups, like Stirling, Liverpool and Sussex.

We also had a strong presence at The World Transformed, with over 30 people from the youth network showing up to learn together.

We will be continuing our political education and welcoming new members with another We Rise, to be held in Manchester on 26 November. Speakers will include Nadia Whittome MP and Ammar Ali Jan of the Pakistan Progressive Student Caucus. More information at: globaljustice.org.uk/we-rise

Freshers’ fair stalls at Leeds Arts Uni (top), the University of Glasgow (middle) and the University of Manchester (bottom).

New materials

In addition to the materials related to our main campaigns detailed elsewhere, we’ve also included some other materials that groups might find useful.

We fight for a world... leaflet

This is a new basic intro to Global Justice Now with an emphasis on our local groups network. It is designed so you can print your group details onto the back, or use standard-sized address stickers to achieve the same effect. Please order more if you need them, and we can even print your details on!

Youth network poster (above)

This was produced to add some colour to our freshers fair stalls, and it’s not included with Think Global, but we can send a few to groups. Designed more for putting up at home/work/etc than for one-time use on a stall!

Another world is possible badges and stickers

For groups, some new badges are included in this Think Global, along with round stickers for everyone. Feel free to order more of either if you can use them – so far they have proved popular.

Food speculation

Back in 2008, the world went through a joint finance and food price crisis. We launched a campaign to stop bankers betting on food, with local groups taking on a central role. The campaign won the introduction of new regulations on speculation in food commodities – they weren’t everything we wanted, but it was a good start.

Now the world is once again going through a cost of living crisis with sky-rocketing food prices both here and around the world. Once again there are widespread calls for reform, including to strengthen the regulations on food speculation. But instead the government is planning to rip up the existing regulations on speculation and take all the brakes off the hedge funds and shady corners of the financial market!

We’re going to do our best to fight the government’s Financial Services and Markets Bill as it goes through parliament this autumn, as part of the Finance for Our Future coalition.

Speculative trading in grain commodity markets is done by hedge funds and other investors who aren’t actually interested in crops and food. They just see a chance to make a profit as the prices fluctuate. They’re betting on hunger.

Read our new briefing The Financial Services and Markets Bill: a speculator’s charter on our website at: globaljustice.org.uk/resources

ispossi

Another world is possible A4 leaflet

Produced to provide some context for the badges and stickers, with a focus on alternatives.

Stop deportations A4 leaflet

Because we have been helping to build the coalition against the Rwanda deportations, we decided it was important to have a more up to date material on the issue.