THINK GLOBAL
September 2016
Act locally with Global Justice Now
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Contents
01 Welcome
02 News roundup
04 Food sovereignty campaign
06 Trade justice campaign
08 Migration campaign
09 Feedback from groups survey
11 Groups and activism news
12 Current materials
A new generation: building a Global Justice Now youth network
Ed Lewis Activism team
Young people have always been at the heart of social and political struggle.
History offers many crucial examples: the match girls strike in 1888 in London’s east end; the ANC youth league, founded by a young Oliver Tambo in 1944; the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee that was so central to the civil rights movement in the 1960s; the central role of young women in the feminist movement; and up to the present day – such as the British student movement that kick-started resistance to the Coalition government’s austerity measures in 2010-11; or the central role of youth in the Arab uprisings.
Today’s young people are at the sharp end of neoliberalism: facing high levels of unemployment and precarious work, the privatisation of education and the erosion of the welfare state (what kind of pension provision can today’s young people expect when they retire?). Their engagement with politics is more important now than ever.
That’s part of why we’ve been increasing our support for youth activism over the past two years, and why it’s at the centre of the strategy we agreed in 2015. This work has taken a number of forms, such as working with Students Against TTIP, supporting young workers in the Better Than Zero campaign in Scotland, and running Take Back Our World festival two years running, which has been significantly aimed at young people.
The success of this work has led to our decision to start to build a youth network, open to anyone under 28, in Autumn 2016 and throughout 2017. This is very much an experiment – we don’t know as yet how it will develop. But whatever form it takes, the network will be part of, and strengthen, our existing activist network.
Of course, some groups have younger members already and we certainly encourage groups to continue to work with people of all ages.
But if you are a young person who wants to know more about the network, or if you know others who might be interested, please contact me at . And also get in touch if you have any questions.
Inserts
General
Membership leaflet (‘There is no alternative’)
New sign-up sheets
Which staff to contact at Global Justice Now (groups only)
Trade
CETA briefing
CETA fold-out leaflet
CETA postcard
TISA briefing
List of MEPs by region
Migration
Refugees demo leaflet
News from Global Justice Now
National activists’ meeting
Global Justice Now London office Saturday 24 September, 10.30am - 4.30pm
We’re trying something new at the end of September. Since we currently only have half of our area reps posts filled, the area reps we do have thought it might be a good idea to broaden the attendance at their annual meeting to include people from groups, especially in those regions without a rep, although we’re happy to welcome any that do have a rep too. The agenda will include:
A presentation of our plans for a youth activist network and opportunity to feed in and help.
Regional planning session – how do we develop global justice activism in each area of the country?
Update on future campaigning plans and discussion of the possibility of a corporates campaign.
What training and innovations do groups (and individual activists) really need? This is a chance for more in depth consideration than was possible in the groups survey.
This could be a really important opportunity to strengthen our campaign effectiveness, and learn from experiences from around the network. Please consider sending someone from your group.
Full reimbursements for your travel from outside London are available. Please let Sam know you’re coming: sam.lund-harket@ globaljustice.org.uk. We can also help with accommodation if you need it, but please give plenty of notice for this.
Media highlights
At the end of August it suddenly seemed like numerous European political figures were taking big steps back from TTIP, and our comments on the failure of the deal were reported on widely from the Independent, through to the right wing Breitbart news. Hot on the heels of TTIP’s crisis, we released our briefing on TISA, the Trade in Services Agreement, and it was the subject of feature articles in the Independent, the Morning Star and the Belfast Telegraph
Brighton Marathon
Earlier this year, Global Justice Now supporters, including Glasgow group member Steve Rolfe, raised more than £2000 for our work through taking part in the Brighton Marathon. We’ve now secured two places at next year’s Marathon, taking place on Sunday 9 April 2017, Brighton.
Running a marathon is always going to be a minorty interest, but if you do fancy the challenge, it’s a scenic route along the seafront and a great additional way to help fund (y)our work. To register or find out more contact Malise on 020 7820 4900 or or go to globaljustice.org.uk/brightonmarathon17.
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Action checklist
Food sovereignty
Decide if your group will host a Monsanto photo exhibition.
Trade justice
Organise a CETA campaign stall.
Organise a public meeting for the CETA week of action.
Migration
Organise a delegation to the Refugees Welcome demo.
General
Check that group members are national members of Global Justice Now and encourage contacts to join.
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Food sovereignty
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Monsanto tribunal speaker tour and photo exhibition
In the lead up to the (activist organised) Monsanto tribunal in The Hague in October, we are organising a speaker and photo exhibition tour which will take place in five locations across the UK: London, Bristol, Edinburgh, Manchester and Leeds. We are hoping our speaker will be Farida Akhter (subject to visa approval) who is the founder and director of UBINIG, a community based organisation fighting for social change in Bangladesh. UBINIG is a strong advocate of agroecology and has established one of the biggest networks of community seed banks in the world. Farida has been selected as one of the expert witnesses to give testimony at the Monsanto tribunal.
The dates of the events are:
Friday 7 October : London
Sunday 9 October: Edinburgh
Monday 10 October: Leeds
Tuesday 11 October: Manchester
Wednesday 12 October: Bristol
We’ve commissioned a photographer to create an original photo exhibition about communities affected by corporate agriculture in India and Bangladesh which will tour alongside the speaker event.
For local groups and activists not in these areas, we will be producing a resource pack for you to hold your own mini photo exhibition. This will include a small selection of quality prints from the main exhibition as well as guidance for how to organise a local photo exhibition. This pack will be ready in early September, please contact dan.iles@ globaljustice.org.uk to order a pack for your group.
Once the tour is over, the main photo exhibition (which consists of 10 x A2 Photo Boards with accompanying easels) will be available for any group who want to use the exhibition in their local area. So if your group has any ideas about potential display venues where the exhibition could be displayed for a period of time, please call Dan on 020 7820 4900 to discuss this further.
Online game: Farm heroes vs Monsanto
During the summer we raised money through crowdfunding to develop an online game to help spread the word about the problems with Monsanto. The game references an existing popular online game called Farm Heroes. It will be launched in September on our website and through email, so do share it on social media and with your contacts.
Upcoming Monsanto gameSeptember 2016 5
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Whose Scotland?
In August we published new research which highlighted seven super rich Scottish landowners and their links to the darker side of global capitalism.
Our research unearthed unethical business practices – worker exploitation, human rights abuses, and climate wrecking activities – linked to those landowners, either through their own company’s bad practice abroad or through their investments in companies based in the global south. We turned the research into an interactive map naming and shaming the rich landowners. See it at: globaljustice.org.uk/whose-scotland.
The research was published to coincide with the #OurLand festival in Scotland, calling for bolder, braver land reform by the Scottish government. The festival runs throughout September with events across Scotland, including one organised by Global Justice Ayrshire in Kilmarnock on 29 August.
For details of events across Scotland see www.ourland.scot.
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New members update
Six months ago we told you about our ambitious plans to build Global Justice Now’s membership by 1000 new members this year. Growing as a democratic membership organisation, which in turn is part of a wider movement, was a vital part of the strategy we adopted when we changed our name from WDM.
By 25 August we had 506 new members – just over half way to our target, and staff are launching a major drive for new members in the autumn. But to reach our target by the end of the year we need all the help we can get. And some of the best new members are those who joined as a result of encountering local campaigning.
So this is what you can do to help:
• Communicate that it’s possible to join when talking to the public. We’re not expecting anyone to give membership the hard sell, but if people seem interested in our work then also let them know they can join - you’d be surprised how many people are unaware of this.
• Use the new sign-up sheets (enclosed with this Think Global). With changes to fundraising regulation we’ve had to produce new sign-up sheets that allow people to opt in to being contacted. If we don’t collect this information we legally cannot contact people again so please use these new sheets.
• Send sign-up sheets to us promptly. The quicker we get someone’s details the more likely they are to stay engaged with our campaigns, take more actions and possibly join as a member. If you’re collecting names, addresses and emails, please be sure to send them to us within 7 days. You can send them in any way that’s convenient - even photograph the sheet and send it to us electronically if that works for you.
• Start with your group. How many people in your local group are actually members of the national organisation? It’s not expensive - you can join from just £2 a month. Recruitment forms are also enclosed with this Think Global (‘There is no alternative’).
We’re here to help if you would like materials, information or advice on membership. Get in touch via or phone 020 7820 4900 and ask for Malise.
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Trade justice
Breakthrough on TTIP
As we were finalising Think Global, we heard the news that Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s vice-chancellor and economy minister, had pronounced TTIP effectively dead. We have been saying for months that it is on it’s last legs, but to hear a senior member of Europe’s political establishment saying the same thing is very significant. Gabriel is second only to Angela Merkel in Germany’s Conservative- Social Democrat coalition government.
Of course, we should be wary about writing TTIP off completely, but it seems pretty likely we are on the verge of a fantastic victory for European social movements in which Global Justice Now activists have played a crucial role.
However, it is clear from what else Gabriel said that his strategy is to abandon the deeply unpopular TTIP in order to have as much poltical capital as possible to push through CETA. CETA is less well known and has not generated nearly as much controversy, so it would represent TTIP through the back door.
Luckily, we’re ahead of the game, as we were already gearing up to make a big push on stopping CETA...
If you liked TTIP, you’ll love CETA
Enclosed with this issue of Think Global you should find new campaign postcards, a new fold-out leaflet/poster and an updated, post-referendum version of our CETA briefing. We’d like as many groups as possible to use these materials in the next two months, as CETA will come in to force before any UK exit from the EU, and now is a crucial time to defeat it.
The postcards are addressed to MEPs, so in order to use them on stalls you will have to either:
Print off a list of your region’s MEPs for people to choose from when filling in the postcard. It is better to direct people to send their card to a Labour or Conservative MEP, as the Greens are definitely against CETA anyway and UKIP will likely vote against any EU trade deal. We have included a list of all MEPs by region with this Think Global.
Ask people to leave the MEP bit blank and fill it in later. This isn’t such a good option, but it could allow you to spread the cards effectively across multiple MEPs.
As far as political developments go, the good news is that the European Council has conceded that all 27 national parliaments have to ratify CETA before it is officially signed off – rather than them being bound by the decision of the EU as a whole. That means any one country could upset the whole apple cart if they fail to ratify it.