‘Clyde & Co: We can’t eat money!’ Our action outside an ISDS law firm in Glasgow
By: Agnese Verrone
Date: 19 May 2022
Campaigns: Climate, Trade
On 18 May Global Justice Stirling rallied against corporate courts in Glasgow. Our main target was the law firm Clyde & Co, which is stated to be 27th in the top 30 arbitration lawyers globally by a report from the Global Arbitration Review.
The line up of speakers’ included Jane Herbstritt from Global Justice Scotland; one of our members Lewis Forsyth explaining corporate courts; Jane from Just Stop Oil giving a brief overview on the Energy Charter Treaty; Graham Campbell a councillor of the SNP who talked about environmental racism; Jen News an ex-scientist who explained the obstacles of being a climate activist; Graeme Cullen who introduced solutions to capitalism such as democratic public ownership; and Sandy Boyd from Fridays For Future Scotland who spoke about climate justice related to the global south.
After this line up of speakers, we walked towards Clyde and Co where the group wrote with chalk “Corporate Courts secrecy ends today” in front of the building. We stayed on the steps outside the building for half an hour with our banners and placards, taking it in turns to lead some chants.
This experience made me understand how hard is to coordinate such an event, although when my friends and I saw the result of so much effort in order to obtain climate justice we felt truly satisfied to support the cause.
Some of the homemade placards brought along by protestors.
We set up a climate game near to the site of the rally to talk to the public about climate change.
We chalked messages to Clyde & Co. on the ground outside the building where the law firm is based in Glasgow.
