Think Global, October 2023

THINK GLOBAL

Act locally with Global Justice Now

Think Global is Global Justice Now’s activist newsletter, published three times a year, with monthly email supplements (Think Global Extra)

Editing: James O’Nions, Daisy Pearson

Cover photo: Global Justice Nottingham and other local campaign groups at a die-in for the Make Polluters Pay Action Day.

Keeping fossil fuels in the ground will require solidarity

Daisy Pearson Activism team

In August, the Ecuadorian people voted to end oil drilling in the Yasuní National Park – a historic victory against the fossil fuel industry. But the way ahead is not clear.

The current president has hinted that he won’t follow through on the results of the referendum, and has so far made no steps to force Petroecuador to begin shutting down. Yasuní’s fate will partially depend on the outcome of the next presidential election, which takes place on 15 October, and also on the movement’s ability to contest oil interests, which are strong in Ecuador.

In 2007, then President Rafael Correa proposed to the UN General Assembly that the oil in Yasuní could be left in the ground if the international community could provide half the $7.2bn it was valued at. The world did not respond and so drilling went ahead. Given the $1.2 billion Ecuador will lose in income from oil exports, transitioning away from reliance on fossil fuels won’t be easy. But the people of Ecuador have voted to face up to the challenge, with the Yasuní community campaigning relentlessly ahead of the referendum, and it is the duty of global north countries to support them.

While Yasuní is one of the most intact biodiverse regions on the planet, the UK is one of the least – thanks to an industrial revolution which produced vast amounts of pollution and reduced our land to monocultures. Just as we were once world leaders in the extraction and pollution that created the climate crisis, now we have a duty to be world leaders in climate action.

Instead, in September, Rishi Sunak announced a U-turn on green policies designed to get us to net zero by 2050 and a new oil and gas field at Rosebank was approved. In Rishi’s last-ditch attempt to hold onto short-term political power, he is actively seeking to make the green transition into a culture war, by claiming the costs of transition would be borne by “hard-pressed families”.

It’s crucial that we don’t let these false dichotomies take hold. We can do that by stressing that we needn’t choose between people’s prosperity and wellbeing, and taking decisive climate action. A fast, global and just transition to a low carbon economy is completely possible, if we tax polluters and the rich to fund it. This way, we can meet both the needs of people in the UK and our responsibilities to those in the global south who are on the front lines of the climate crisis.

News from Global Justice Now

In the media

This July, we welcomed our new media manager, Anita Bhadani. It’s been a typically busy few months across all of our campaigns. On trade, Cleodie Rickard penned an opinion piece for the Guardian on the Energy Charter Treaty, and also had quotes opposing the ECT in Guardian news stories on two separate occasions. Nick Dearden was invited onto LBC news to talk about how the Pacific trade deal gives corporations power at our collective expense.

On pharma, our joint report with Stop Aids and Just Treatment, Bitter Pills, was covered as an exclusive splash by iNews. Nick Dearden gave an in-depth interview on Novara Media about his new book, Pharmanomics, and wrote for Al-Jazeera on why we should all support Biden’s war on Big Pharma. The FT also published Tim Bierley’s letter on the case for sharing pharmaceutical ‘know-how’ in the name of global health equity.

Dorothy Guerrero wrote a joint opinion piece for the Big Issue following Ecuador’s historic vote to end oil drilling in the Yasuní National Park. She also had broadcast appearances about climate justice on Al-Jazeera and BBC Radio Scotland. Izzie McIntosh’s reaction to Shell’s profiteering was picked up by the Guardian, and Liz Murray’s comments praising Scotland’s commitments to loss and damage funding but urging them to oppose new oil and gas was picked up by PA Media and reprinted in outlets including the Independent, the Herald and STV News.

Action checklist Trade and climate

Council reportback

Nicola Ansell, chair of council, reports: Our last council meeting took place at the start of the summer. Every year we aim to have one meeting where the staff and council come together, usually to take a step back from day-to-day issues and discuss a topic that has significance for the organisation as a whole.

This year, we began with a brief meeting of council to address routine business, and were also updated by Liz Murray on the work of Global Justice Now Scotland. We then had a session with all staff looking at the national and global contexts in which we’re currently operating and the implications these have for our campaigning and activism. The idea of this was to generate new thinking about how we can translate challenges into opportunities, ultimately feeding in to work plans later in the year. It was a great opportunity for council members to get to know the staff better and share some ideas.

New council members needed

We will be electing a new council next June, and as council members can only serve two consecutive terms, some current members will have to stand down. We’re particularly keen for people with skills in finance, HR and IT to stand for council, as well as those with wider campaigns and activism interests. If you might be interested, do contact our head of resources, Steven Thomson, for a chat about what’s involved: steven.thomson@globaljustice.org.uk or 020 7820 4900.

Collect more signatures on the ISDS/Energy Charter Treaty petition, and return them to the office by mid-November.

In Scotland

Run a stall to push for a Fossil Fuel Treaty.

Make a plan to persuade your local council to support it.

Make Amazon Pay

Decide whether you want to take part in the mobilisation around Black Friday on (or around) 24 November.

Pharma

Raise concerns about the UKIndia trade deal with your MP.

Energy Charter Treaty breakthrough

In September the UK government was finally forced to move on the Energy Charter Treaty. After many of you raised the issue with your MPs, and following work by staff to get it on the parliamentary agenda with support from politician of all parties, the government has said it will review the UK’s membership of the treaty. Admitting that “the Energy Charter Treaty will not support those countries looking to make the transition to cleaner, cheaper energy sources such as renewables – and could even penalise our country for being at the forefront of those efforts,” energy minister Graham Stuart announced the UK would “consider leaving” if modernisation proposals are not agreed by November this year.

As we have long argued, these modernisation proposals are mere greenwash, keeping fossil fuel investments protected for the next decade – the most critical ten years for acting

on the climate crisis. What’s more, as many of you are well aware, the reform process has collapsed: after eleven other countries deemed the proposals insufficient and decided to exit the ECT, there haven’t been enough backers left in the pact to vote them through. With the European Union considering a whole-EU exodus, the modernisation process remains stuck at an impasse, with scant chance of it budging before the government’s self-imposed November deadline to get off the fence.

Continued pressure

This is our biggest step forward yet in the campaign, but there’s no guarantee that the government will jump the right way when it comes to the decision. Although we are among the organisations which the government is planning to informally consult on their review, continued pressure from the public and local activists will be crucial.

Getting more signatures on the ECT petition is an important part of this. We’ve included

Global Justice Dundee are joined by MSPs Mercedes Villalba and Katy Clarke outside Scottish parliament.

both the petition leaflet and a petition sheet with this Think Global. Feel free to order more, and if you use the petition sheet (which can be photocopied), please send it back to us by 17 November as we are planning to hand the whole petition in to Number 10 in the following week. Contact activism@globaljustice.org.uk for support with other activities around the ECT in the run up to the government’s decision.

Meanwhile, we’ve been continuing to push the Labour Party to come out firmly for an ECT exit, which would be a no-costs-attached commitment to untie its hands for an ambitious future government programme on climate. We had a comment piece published in the Guardian to this end.

Scotland and the SNP

Thanks to campaigning by Global Justice Dundee, the Dundee branch of the Scottish National Party has proposed a resolution about the ECT to SNP conference, where it will be debated if it recieves enough votes in the prioritisation ballot. The group also organised a stall outside the Scottish parliament on the day that the Energy Bill was being debated in Westminster to raise the profile of the ECT and of the issue more generally among MSPs. Global Justice Edinburgh joined them, and other Scottish groups emailed their MSPs to ask them to come out and support the demonstration. Around 10 MSPs from all parties came out to speak to activists, with many of them willing to get a photo with the activists and the ‘Scotland must Exit the ECT’ banner.

Goodbye Jean

Our longstanding trade campaigner, Jean Blaylock, left Global Justice Now in September. She writes: “It’s been great to be part of Global Justice Now’s campaigning for the past few years – it’s a special place and GJN activists and groups achieve amazing things. Give the ECT a bit more of a push and take it down for me!”

Anything you might previously have contacted Jean about can now be sent to Cleodie Rickard: cleodie.rickard@globaljustice.org.uk

Colombia and ISDS

Earlier this year Cleodie joined a delegation to Colombia alongside organisations from the Americas and Europe to share experiences of struggles against the global investment protection regime. The mission learnt firsthand about the peoples and ecosystems threatened by investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) lawsuits, as well as the harm caused by the extractive projects of transnational companies bringing such cases.

You can find the short report that the delegation produced via globaljustice.org.uk/ resources.

Key resources

Four fossil fuel firms... Petition leaflet (June 2023).

The Energy Charter Treaty Two-page briefing (June 2023).

What’s wrong with the Pacific trade deal?

Four-page briefing (March 2023).

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

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

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

Pharmaceuticals

Pharmanomics published

Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden’s exposé of the pharmaceutical industry is published by Verso on 3 October, and is already proving popular, with lots of pre-orders. Renowned expert on the global economy Ann Pettifor is one of those recommending it:

“Nick Dearden’s book is about the structural foundations of a global market in life-saving medicines. A market dependent on taxpayer subsidies, but designed to strip both rich and poor governments of the power to improve health. An essential read for those that care about saving lives, and that want the system changed.”

Global Justice Now activists can still benefit from our very special Pharmanomics offer: Save £4.99 and get free postage and packing. Just order your copy from: globaljustice.org.uk/pharmanomics

Book tour

Thanks to all those local groups who have organised a book tour event for Nick. He can’t manage any more before Christmas but further events are possible in the new year. For the latest and booking info where relevant, see: globaljustice.org.uk/book-tour

Sydenham, London

Wednesday 11 October, 7.30pm

Kirkdale Bookshop, 272 Kirkdale, Sydenham, London SE26 4RS. Free

Hastings

Friday 13 October, 6pm

The Pig Pub, 37 White Rock, Hastings TN34 1JL. Free

Sheffield

Wednesday 18 October, 7.15pm

Central United Reformed Church, 60 Norfolk Street, Sheffield S1 2JB. Free

Nick Dearden with his new book, Pharmanomics, published on 3 October.

Bradford

Wednesday 1 November, 6.30 – 7.30pm

Waterstones, The Wool Exchange, Hustlergate, Bradford BD1 1BL. £5

Portsmouth

Thursday 2 November, 7pm

The Cathedral Discovery Centre, Bishop Crispian Way, Portsmouth PO1 3QA. Free

Reading

Wednesday 8 November, 7.30pm

Reading International Solidarity Centre (RISC), 35-39 London Street, Reading RG1 4PS. Free

Dundee

Friday 10 November, 6.30pm

Waterstones, 35 Commercial Street, Dundee DD1 3DG. Free

Ardrossan

Saturday 11 November, 2.30pm

Seahorse Bookstore, 1a Winton Buildings, Ardrossan KA22 8BY. Free

Edinburgh

Sunday 12 November, 11am

Radical Book Fair, Edinburgh

Glasgow

Monday 13 November, 7pm

Red Rosa’s, 195 London Road, Glasgow G40 1PA. Free

Nottingham

Monday 20 November, 7pm

Five Leaves Bookshop, 14a Long Row, Swann’s Yard, Nottingham NG1 2DH. £4/£3

UK-India trade talks

UK trade secretary Kemi Badenoch is currently negotiating a trade deal with India, a country whose production of generic versions of expensive branded medicines has been central to supplying affordable drugs to the world. As part of the trade deal, the UK wants to make it easier for pharma companies to establish lucrative patent monopolies, which could delay the entry of generics by years. This doesn’t just affect the global south, but the NHS too, which

is increasingly reliant on Indian generics. If that isn’t bad enough, the UK also wants to scrap the democratic right of Indian citizens to appeal unjustified patent applications.

We worked with over 120 health and development organisations to send a letter to the trade secretary, urging her to back down over the UK’s damaging patent demands. The letter was covered quite widely, including in the Telegraph and Reuters, and we’re pushing MPs to put further pressure on the minister. Please do write or speak to your MP about this issue if you can, and for help with this contact

tim.bierley@globaljustice.org.uk

Short film series

As you know, we’ve also been working on a series of short films about the pharma industry. We’ve been really lucky to work with several film industry professionals, but conflicting schedules mean we’ve had to delay the release by a few months. Thanks to the generous donations of members and supporters we’ll be able to do a big launch in London and support more events across the country.

If you’re interested in hosting a film screening in the new year, please get in touch with Guy at guy.taylor@globaljustice.org.uk. The series will run for between 20 and 25 minutes. We can provide a speaker and help with promotional materials and emails to local supporters.

Key resources

Lives not profits Fold-out leaflet (June 2023).

Big pharma isn’t working Four-page briefing (June 2023).

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).

Lives before profits Petition sheet (2023).

Order via activism@globaljustice.org.uk

Climate justice

Make polluters pay

In September, Global Justice Now activists and groups were at the forefront of around 50 actions on Make Polluters Pay Action Day. From Totnes to Ayrshire, our groups organised demonstrations and stalls, marches and die-ins outside polluting banks, to strengthen the call for making polluters pay.

Alongside our allies in the coalition, we demanded that the UK makes a significant contribution to the UN’s loss and damage fund, and taxes corporate polluters to pay for it. Last month’s action day saw hundreds of people organising in their local communities to add their voices to our call. Activists got creative, targeting everyone from big, polluting banks to local MPs.

Global Justice Nottingham staged a diein outside branches of Barclays, HSBC and Santander – three major funders of fossil fuels. Targeting them sends a powerful message to the banks, as well as national and local decision-makers, that we’re onto them and

won’t accept them making billions from the climate crisis anymore. High Peak Green New Deal took their message to Glossop High Street, and were joined for a while by an enthusiastic group of young people, before heading onwards to the BP petrol station. Global Justice Reading protested outside their local Barclays branch, with beautiful hand-painted banners. Barclays pumped nearly £160 billion into the fossil fuel industry in 2016-2022.

Nearly 2,000 people have written to their MPs, putting make polluters pay firmly on politicians’ radars, and helping to grow the network of decision-makers hearing our demands.

Oily money out

In October, Fossil Free London is saying ‘oily money OUT’. Out of our politics. Out of COP28. Out of our lives and futures. They’re coordinating six days of movement building and direct action to block the Energy Intelligence Forum (recently renamed from the more fitting Oil and Money Conference.)

A Make Polluters Pay Action Day protest in Glossop, organised by High Peak Green New Deal

This event brings together fossil fuel giants— including the president of COP28 (an oil baron himself)—to discuss all their important business: read, how they can keep making the most money possible out of climate destruction.

Workshops and trainings will take place from 14-16 October, and direct action to block the conference will follow from 17-19 October. If you can only take one day off work, join for the 17th - the first day of the actual conference. To find out more or get involved sign up at www.oilymoneyout.uk.

Fossil fuels: a global exit plan

Ending fossil fuels is key to stopping the harm that the climate crisis is inflicting on us all, but especially on communities in the global south. A few months ago, we launched our campaign to get the Scottish government to endorse the call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, and we’re now considering expanding this work to the rest of the UK.

The treaty is a proposal by a global network of campaign groups for a new international agreement that would commit countries to ending the extraction of oil, gas and coal in line with international commitments to keep global warming below the 1.5° threshold. Fossil fuel

Key resources

Making polluters pay climate reparations

Two-page briefing (February 2023)

Make polluters pay A5 petition leaflet (updated January 2023).

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

Make polluters pay for climate chaos A5

four-page leaflet.

Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

Various Scotland-specific resources.

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

companies are conducting business as usual, while UN climate negotiations still omit any specific mention of phasing out fossil fuels. It’s time for a global exit plan to see us out of the fossil fuel era as quickly as possible as part of a global just transition.

The campaign is gaining momentum: last month it was newly endorsed by the State of California (the largest economy to add its name so far), and Timor-Leste, a country heavily dependent on oil and gas revenues.

Campaigning in Scotland

Things are looking hopeful in Scotland. Speaking at Climate Week in New York, First Minister, Humza Yousaf, boldly asserted that “Scotland will transition from being the oil and gas capital of Europe to unleashing our renewable potential and becoming the net zero capital of the world”. He also spoke to the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty global campaign team while he was there—a positive step! Global Justice Now Scotland was quoted in Scottish media and the Independent responding to his speech.

Please keep helping us build the pressure on Humza Yousaf to support the proposal for a Fossil Fuel Treaty, and watch this space for how to get involved from the rest of the UK.

Materials for stalls

Have a stall to help spread the word and get people to sign the petition. We have a 2-page briefing, an A5 petition leaflet on the Fossil Fuel Treaty and physical petition sheets for stalls.

Lobby your council

Lobby your local council to pass a motion supporting the Fossil Fuel Treaty. The more support the treaty gets, the more pressure we can put on the Scottish government to voice its support too. We’ve put together a ‘how to’ guide for influencing your local council which includes a draft motion, draft letters to councillors, and draft press release.

Find all resources at globaljustice.org.uk/FFT, or email jane.herbstritt@globaljustice.org.uk for physical copies and with any questions.

Local groups news

Global Justice Bexhill and Hastings used the Big Pharma petition to great effect at the annual Garden of Cultural Delights in August.

Global Justice Bradford continue in their mammoth campaign of weekly pickets of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund office. On the Global Day of Action against Fossil Fuels they were joined by a larger crowd for a fantastic boost to the campaign. They also protested outside Barclays for the Make Polluters Pay Action Day and gave out lots of leaflets.

Global Justice Cambridge held a successful stall at the Arbury Carnival in June. They are continuing to pressure their MP over the ECT.

Activists in Cardiff hosted a Make Polluters Pay event for the action day, handing out lots of leaflets and getting people to write to their MP.

High Peak Green New Deal did a great action against the Energy Charter Treaty in July and got a great write-up in the local press.

Global Justice Leicester took the initiative to hold a stall at the National Justice and Peace conference in July, which was very well received by participants. In September they joined local allies for the Make Polluters Pay Action Day.

Global Justice Macclesfield held shark-infested stalls for both the Energy Charter Treaty in June and Make Polluters Pay in September, with the latter featured in an article in local news.

Global Justice Portsmouth went early with a Make Polluters Pay protest on 15 September and made a great splash in Guildhall Square. Participating groups also sent a joint letter sent to local MPs.

Global Justice Reading enjoyed the morning of the Reading Cycle Festival pushing the Make Polluters Pay resources. All went well except for the thunderstorms! They also coordinated a demo for the Make Polluters Pay Action Day, and got a great report in their local paper.

Rotherham for Global Justice collected an impressive 140 signatures on the Make Polluters Pay petition at the Rotherham Show.

Activists in Salisbury, including Global Justice Now members and Extinction Rebellion, managed to get a great article in the Salisbury Journal previewing their planned protest on the MPP day of action.

Global Justice Shropshire held a stall for Make Polluters Pay Action Day, handing out leaflets and spreading the word.

Activists in Swansea collected petition signatures and handed out leaflets as part of the Make Polluters Pay Action Day.

Global Justice Worthing held a colourful and entincing stall for Make Polluters Pay Action Day, gathering many petition signatures.

See more group activities for the Make Polluters Pay Action Day on page 8.

Picketing the West Yorkshire Pension Fund in Bradford; and protesting outside Barclays in Reading

The Global Justice Youth summer gathering was brilliant weekend, bringing our network together in a beautiful setting in Sussex. We heard from Ivonne Yanez of Acción Ecológica in Ecuador, Sasha Reza Chohra from ATTAC France, Mohammed Elnaiem from the Decolonial Centre, as well Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden. The workshops covered practical skills like event organisation, campaigning and creative actions, and we dived into issues from the Energy Charter Treaty and corporate courts to food sovereignty. We also fitted in some campfire singing, live music and amazing DJs and wild swimming!

Merseyside Youth for Justice had a massive success in pressuring Liverpool Pride to drop Barclays from their Pride in Liverpool march! Barclays is one of the biggest funders of fossil fuel infrastructure in Europe. Liverpool Pride Foundation is still using Barclays as a sponsor for other activities, so there is still work to be done, but this is a genuine campaign victory.

At the time of writing we’re part way through freshers’ fair season, and network members are running stalls at lots of universities around the country from St. Andrews to Reading. We’ve a host of post-freshers events coming as well, just a taste: Edinburgh Global Justice Youth is holding an event called Decolonising the Global Economy featuring fantastic speakers. Global Justice Youth Bristol and Our Future Now are teaming up for a dual hybrid Stop the East African Crude Oil Pipeline film showing. Youth groups in York, Sussex, and Manchester are prepping talks on our pharmaceutical campaign. Global Justice Youth Leeds, along with Student Rebellion, Divest Borders, Just Stop Oil, and other Leeds-based groups, are holding a political social for freshers and returning students. Glasgow Youth Collective’s post-freshers’ fair meetup was a hit, and they’re gearing up for our youth network national gathering We Rise in Glasgow in January.

Chiara Busini

James O’Nions

The youth summer gathering in July.

Youth activists at a freshers stall in Manchester.

Make Amazon Pay!

Black Friday 2023

24 November Day of Action

Our Resisting Monopoly Capitalism conference earlier this year explored how the economy is becoming dominated by a small pool of corporate giants cornering markets across our basic needs: medicines, food, energy, technology. We had great discussions in a workshop on taking down Amazon, the Big Tech behemoth whose relentless expansion is built on over-working and under-paying workers, producing masses of waste and emissions, and predatory pricing and monopoly tolls for other sellers on its platform squeezing out competition.

The fightback is happening: two UK Amazon depots are striking for fair pay, and one striking worker from Coventry, Garfield Hylton, spoke at the conference on Amazon’s scandalous union-busting tactics, its malignant use of AI to monitor workers and set brutal performance metrics, as well as sharing workers’ unique insight into the company’s climate crimes.

In today’s digitised economy, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Amazon and other tech giants are the new oil barons of the world, with our data their precious resource to extract. They are lobbying to influence trade deals in their favour, and lock in deregulation before governments are barely beginning to grapple

Materials for groups

with how to contain their power. Their power extends far beyond an ephemeral digital world. Venturing into ‘digital agriculture’, they’re buying up technological processes and the data with which they can control and profit from our entire food system – from farm to grocery, and at huge cost to the planet’s ecological resilience and the autonomy of small farmers across the global south.

It was clear from these conversations that a whole-movement approach is needed to take on the big tech monopolies, which is why we’ve joined the global Make Amazon Pay coalition: organisations and unions working across labour, climate, data, and racial and economic justice to make Amazon pay fair wages, pay its taxes and pay for its impact on the planet.

Make Amazon Pay will hold an annual day of action on Black Friday, 24 November – last year’s saw protests, actions and strikes against Amazon at 135 locations in over 35 countries. Our involvement should help make the UK mobilisation bigger and better this year, and we’ll be producing some materials to use on the day. We’d particularly like to know who is interested, so if you’d like to get involved, please email activism@globaljustice.org.uk

The activism team is available to help produce group-specific signage and leaflets for any groups who want them. In recent times we’ve produced a large ‘feather’ flag for Global Justice Nottingham, as well as roller banners and replacement group banners. Remember we also have a leaflet (right) about who we are and how local groups work which you can add your own details to. Just email activism@globaljustice.org.uk

We fight for a world where people come before profit.