Global Justice Now

Date: 15 January 2015

This is an important day for us. We’re opening a new chapter in our struggle for social and economic justice. With a new name – Global Justice Now – we’re relaunching WDM. Our aim is to make an even more effective movement for a world where resources are in the hands of the many, not the few.

Through our 45-year history, we’ve always maintained that poverty is deeply political. Despite what we’ve been repeatedly told by the political elite, you cannot get rid of poverty while a tiny minority enjoys wealth beyond imagination. In particular, the power that big business wields today is incompatible with a democratic society capable of solving the world’s problems. Therefore it’s more important than ever we work together for a more just world.

But when speaking to people here in the UK and new allies across the world, it has become increasingly clear that our old name just doesn’t explain who we are and what we do. The world has changed – inequality within countries, both north and south, has soared, while the whole concept of development has been at least partially co-opted by big business interests.That’s why we took a democratic decision last September to change our name. Above everything else we remain a democratic organisation. We believe that the change we need will only come from a huge movement of people campaigning for a more just and equal world.

Together, we can change the world. We’ve been doing it for years. From the defeat of dangerous trade deals to reversing the privatisation of water, from beating the speculators betting on hunger, to supporting social movements creating the basis for a new world right now in Latin America.

There are lots of roles individuals can play in a movement like ours – convincing people of the possibility for change at a local level, getting involved in local groups, putting pressure on politicians, working to build bigger and stronger alliances on key issues, donating money to help us keep going, sharing messages on social media.

We believe the world is desperately unjust and we can’t be silent about it. We think global inequality is the scandal of our age. We believe big business has too much power over our society and needs to be controlled. We believe the world’s resources need to be in the hands on the many, not the few.

We believe that if there are enough of us, we can change things. Do you agree? If so please join Global Justice Now. Together, we will change the world.