Think Global Extra October 2015 - Global Justice Now Global Justice Now

Type: Think Global newsletter
Date: 1 October 2015
Campaigns: General

Welcome to the October issue of Think Global Extra, the bimonthly supplement to Think Global. Read it in conjunction with the last full Think Global from September.

With the Paris climate talks, the national food sovereignty gathering and a day of action on TTIP, the coming months see significant opportunities for campaigning, education and movement-building across the key issues we work on. And in the new political context, with the scope of mainstream political debate having been widened significantly by the new leadership of the Labour Party, this is an exciting and important time for global justice activism. I’m looking forward to what we can achieve together!

Ed Lewis

Activism team

Action checklist

Take action against TTIP on the 10 October international day of action
Get any remaining signatures for the ECI before it closes
Mobilise around the CETA speaker tour, if it’s coming to a place near you
Organise for group members to attend the food sovereignty gathering
Organise for group members to attend the climate mobilisations in Paris in December

Skill Up! Stand Up! event

17 October, Manchester

This skillshare event which we have organised jointly with campaigning allies has proved very popular. We have recently reassessed the numbers the venue can take and have been able to make a few more (free) tickets available. If you would like to come, you must sign up in advance via the Eventbrite page. If the event is sold out again before you get a chance to sign up, Global Justice Now’s activism team will do our best to find you a place, although we can’t guarantee anything – email [email protected] in this case.

The provisional timetable for the day is now available at globaljustice.org.uk/skillup

Campaign update: trade justice

International day of action against trade deals: 10 October

We’re encouraging groups to take action with stalls, stunts or public meetings.

In London there will be a rally in the evening, featuring shadow chancellor John McDonnell, Green Party leader Natalie Bennett and Juliet Stevenson from Artists Against TTIP. 6.30pm, Conway Hall.

European Citizens Initiative: can we reach 3 million?

There are only a few days left before the formal end of the ECI, and there is still a chance that we might reach an extraordinary 3 million signatures before 6 October… but it’s going to be tight. There’s also a chance that the UK’s national total might reach 500,000 which would be a great indication of the level of opposition to both TTIP and CETA domestically.

A few things everyone can do to make it happen:

Share the link where people can sign the ECI. Make sure this has been circulated among you faith group, trade union, student group, or any even obliquely relevant Facebook group you’re a part of.
Check your stall equipment and bags for signed sheets of ECI petitions, every single signature counts. Send them in to Global Justice Now until 31 September. After that you can either scan them and email them to us.

Speaker tour: Stop the Transatlantic Trade Deals

With the ratification of CETA (the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, between the EU and Canada) scheduled for 2016, we are starting to raise awareness about CETA whilst maintaining pressure on TTIP. To that end we’re organising a national speaker tour in the first week of November. We’re joined by Maude Barlow the national spokesperson of the Council of Canadians and Yash Tandon, Ugandan trade expert.

Our schedule is:

Dundee Sunday 1 Nov 3pm, Small Hall Dalhousie Building, Dundee University
Manchester Monday 2 Nov 7.30pm Methodist Central Hall
Leeds Tuesday 3 Nov 7pm the Carriageworks, Millennium Square
London Thursday 5 Nov 7pm Brunei Gallery, SOAS
Oxford Friday 6 Nov 7.30pm Wesley Memorial Hall
Cardiff Saturday 7 Nov 2pm Cardiff Temple of Peace and Health

This is a good opportunity for groups to mobilise around. Publicity will be sent out to the groups in those cities next week. If your group is close to one of those venues, but not in the city listed, please request publicity and we’ll send you some through.

We will also use it to promote try and grow the Students Against TTIP network. Get in touch if you might be able to help us use the tour to help build the network.

All SNP MPs signed EDM 146

Thanks to a fantastic lobbying effort by local anti-TTIP activists across Scotland, all SNP MPs have now signed EDM 146 opposing TTIP. We hope that this will influence debate on TTIP at the SNP autumn conference in a few weeks time. http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2015-16/146

Campaign update: food sovereignty

Food sovereignty gathering, Hebden Bridge, 23-26 October

The food sovereignty gathering is fast approaching. There are over 200 people signed up and there have been over 60 workshops proposed.

We’ve had a few calls from group members who are not sure whether this gathering is for them so we just wanted to confirm a few things about the gathering:

The gathering has been organised by Global Justice Now and our allies in the food sovereignty movement in the UK. It is not a meeting of experts but a convergence of a range people (from different backgrounds) from across the UK. So we fully encourage groups to attend if they are interested. Overall, there seems to be quite a lot of energy behind the gathering and we’re quite excited about the people coming.
It is ok to come for one, two, three or the full four days. If you can only commit for a day or two your contribution is still more than welcome.
Global Justice Now groups will be bringing with them valuable contributions from their local movements. All groups will be able to bring the international perspective which is particularly important for the gathering.
If you want to meet people from the food sovereignty team at Global Justice Now this is your opportunity to have a longish amount of time to join them in active discussions with the movement in the UK. We will also be bringing over Bridget Mugambe, a Ugandan who works for the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa. And there will be opportunities to discuss things with her.
There is a crèche. Sessions for children five and over will be provided with forest school sessions on Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning. Activities will include fire lighting, foraging, den building, woodland games and crafts. Sessions will start and end at the main venue and take place in adjacent woods. They will be led by qualified, insured, DBS-checked forest school leaders. Places are limited so please email [email protected] to book a space.

If you want to register please do so soon as space is running out – see here. The full programme is still being worked out but the outline is here.

As always, if you have any questions please feel free to give Dan a call at the office, or email [email protected].

Campaign update: climate and energy justice

Paris climate talks

As mentioned in the last print edition of Think Global we are hoping to take a strong contingent of Global Justice Now activists and supporters to the Paris mobilisations around the UN climate talks. We have negotiated a package of cheap Eurostar tickets, leaving London St. Pancras on the morning of Friday the 11 December and returning on the Sunday afternoon. Return tickets will cost between £70 and £75, with optional two-night hostel accommodation for £50 or cheaper crash space. Booking will be available by Thursday 8 October at globaljustice.org.uk/bookparis.

We’ve teamed up with Friends of the Earth to manage the logistics of this as they’re taking activists too – there is similar joint working in Scotland as well. Anyone will be able to book trains with either organisation, whether you’re a member or not.

There will be various protests and civil society events taking place between Saturday 5 December and Sunday 13 December, and although we are not organising collective transport for this, if Global Justice Now members want to be in Paris for some or all of this longer period, there will be staff there during this time and we will arrange meet ups. To let us know you’re coming, or to find out more, email [email protected] – we’re hoping to know more after an international meeting in Paris this coming weekend.

Subsidies

We’re also organising crowd funding to subsidise unwaged or low waged young people (30 or under) to attend the mobilisation. Information for the subsidised places will also be available on the bookings page mentioned above. Do the spread the word about this to eligible people who may be interested.

Protests and campaigning in the UK

There are now protests planned at the beginning of the UN talks in Edinburgh, Cardiff (28 November) and London (29 November). Our main aim is to get people to Paris as we think the corporate capture of the process is best challenged where it is happening, but we will also be participating in these protests. We will be producing a special climate justice newspaper to give out on the marches (a little like the No TTIP Times), but plan on making it useable after the talks too.

We’ve also been producing a generic talk about the COP, the text and PowerPoint for which will be available for groups and supporters to use as a way of engaging others. This will be available in mid-October; please contact Sam about this by phone or at [email protected].

Thanks to those groups who have shown interest in Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything film. We’ve had confirmation that it will be possible for us to do ‘community screenings’, but are still waiting for exact details. The film could be used to mobilise people to go to Paris, but could also be shown in January as a follow-up event.

Edinburgh World Justice Festival

27 September-19 October, Edinburgh

‘Changing our unequal world’ is the title of the main conference of the Edinburgh World Justice Festival this year. It will include a workshop on TTIP run by Global Justice Now, as well as other workshops on debt, land grabs and climate justice. Go to the website to view the full programme: www.ewjf.org.uk.