Inserts
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Fuel poverty action energy bill of rights (for individuals to sign)
Energy justice campaign in a nutshell briefing
Energy justice briefing – full length version
Relaunch hand-out (groups only)
‘Another economy is possible’ booklet
Conference workshop notes (groups only)
Letter from the activism team
Dear group members,
I’m delighted to be writing my first letter to you, having recently taken up my position as groups
officer at WDM. I enjoyed meeting a good number of group members at the AGM and I’m looking
forward to my first set of visits to groups in the coming months. And I’m very excited to be joining
you in the fight for global justice at this historic moment in the organisation’s history: as we prepare
for the relaunch of the organisation in the new year with the new name of Global Justice Now, which
was adopted at the AGM by an overwhelming majority of votes.
As groups prepare for the relaunch, we nonetheless have a very busy month coming up in October.
This includes a European day of action against TTIP, the Great Seed Festival, the Reclaim Power week
of action and a national speaker tour challenging BHP Billiton’s dirty coal ventures. I’m looking
forward to working with groups and learning from them as they get involved in these activities – and
do get in touch to share your plans with us, to discuss ideas and for materials and support.
Happy campaigning!
Ed Lewis
Relaunch update
On 13 September our AGM voted to change WDM’s name to Global Justice Now. Of those present in
the room, 90% of the 129 votes cast were in favour, with the remainder split between against and
abstentions. We also had an unusually high number of proxy votes this year, and because it was a
special resolution, those voting by proxy were given the opportunity to say which way they’d like
their proxy cast. There were 228 proxy votes cast, and coincidentally, 90% of these were also in
favour, which suggests a pretty high level of agreement across the organisation. The vote was
preceded by a debate which a number of people remarked was very good-natured despite some
strong opinions.
In the groups conference which followed there was a session which allowed group members and
staff from the activism team a chance to progress on plans for local relaunches. A slightly revised
version of the handout for this session is included with this Think Global mailing. Please make sure
that your group considers this document in your next group meeting, and responds to the activism
team about your group name. Contact Catherine Rowe (catherine.rowe@wdm.org.uk) who has
joined the activism team between now and next year’s relaunch conference to specifically support
groups with their relaunch activities and get all the materials we need produced.
Action checklist
Food sovereignty
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Lobby your MP: try to get them to pressure Justine Greening to withdraw the UK from the
New Alliance
Link with other food sovereignty groups to organise an event around World Food Day, as
part of the Great Seed Festival.
Trade justice
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Take action on 11 October as part of the European day of action. Attend a protest, do a
stunt, go to a stall or do some flyering and newspaper distribution – or any combination of
these!
Make links with other local groups to build a coalition against TTIP to strengthen the
campaign
Climate and energy justice
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Organise an action, event or stall for the Reclaim Power week of action
Get signatures for the Energy Bill of Rights on stalls
Use Reclaim Power and/or the Energy Bill of Rights as the basis for a letter to your local
paper about energy justice
Campaign update: Food sovereignty
New Alliance – MP lobbying
We’re continuing to pressure the secretary of state for international development, Justine Greening,
to withdraw UK support for the New Alliance, which is promoting a corporate carve-up of Africa. We
encourage groups to meet with their MPs to try and get their help in pressuring Greening. In the
September Think Global we produced a list of MPs who are particularly important in this regard but
we think it is important nonetheless to target all MPs, as many are not aware of this issue.
To help you with MP lobbying, we have included a briefing which provides you with key talking
points that you can use in a meeting with your MP; this is also available on the groups area of the
website.
A to Z of food sovereignty
On 19 September, we launched our’ A to Z of food sovereignty’ online. This explains a new concept
or practice relating to food sovereignty each day, culminating in World Food Day on 16 October.
Check out our website to have a look and please spread the word to your contacts and using social
media.
Great Seed Festival
Coinciding with World Food Day, the UK food sovereignty movement have been organising the Great
Seed Festival (11-12 October) with events around the country. The campaigns team have been
helping to organise joint events in London to bring an international solidarity angle to the events.
Groups may want to work with other food sovereignty groups to organise an event as part of this.
Check out the website for more info about the festival and for events: www.greatseedfestival.co.uk
Campaign update: Climate and energy justice
Campaign development update
Over the last few months we’ve been developing the new phase of our climate and energy
campaign, which will frame our work through the lens of energy justice: systems in which energy is
fairly distributed, democratically controlled and managed to recognise the planet’s limits. This will
allow us to talk about the problems of corporate-controlled energy including the role of the UK
financial sector in bankrolling destructive energy projects, and also present positive alternatives that
are being explored and developed around the world.
We will continue the work we started with the Carbon Capital campaign through on-going solidarity
work with communities in Colombia and Indonesia while also helping to build a movement around
the idea of energy justice. In addition, we will be highlighting how the privatisation of energy
systems around the world is giving corporations greater power over our energy systems.
From the UK to Nigeria, energy privatisation is pushing up prices and making it harder for people to
meet their energy needs while failing to shift us to sustainable ways of producing and using energy.
Over the next few months, we will be providing more information about the failures of energy
privatisation around the world to accompany the energy justice materials we have been producing
(see below) and suggesting ways that you can take action on this locally.
Reclaim Power week of action 10-18 October
Groups around the world campaigning for energy and climate justice are organising Reclaim Power:
a global week of action on energy to highlight the urgency of transforming our energy systems at
local, national and global levels, and to demand a shift from corporate-controlled fossil fuels to
clean, fair and democratic energy systems.
Some groups have let us know about events they are planning as part of this. For example, Glasgow
WDM is planning to take a tour of local banks, holding stunts outside their branches to highlight how
they are funding destructive energy projects around the world. If you are planning a stunt or event
as part of the week, please let us know and also add it to the Reclaim Power website
(www.reclaimpower.net) so that other people know what you’re planning and can get involved.
Alternatively, groups may also want to write to their local paper to highlight Reclaim Power and
make links between fuel poverty and corporate control of energy in the UK and globally. You can
also mention that you have signed the Energy Bill of Rights.
Fuel Poverty Action’s Energy Bill Of Rights
This winter, we’ll be working with grassroots group Fuel Poverty Action (FPA) to make the links
between fuel poverty, corporate control of our energy system in the UK and energy injustice at the
global level. Many groups have already signed FPA’s Energy Bill of Rights and this month we have
included a version of the Bill for individuals to sign up to, which you might be able to encourage at
stalls or during stunts. If you have good relationships with other local groups, it would be great if you
could ask them to sign on as well. If you need extra copies of the sign-on form, please contact Sam in
the office on 020 7820 4900 or sam.lund-harket@wdm.org.uk. Please return any completed copies
to the office and we will pass them on the FPA.
New materials
Included with this month’s Think Global are copies of two new materials which we hope will be
useful for engaging people on the issues of energy justice: a booklet which explains the idea of
energy justice and a version of the energy justice briefing for more in-depth information.
If you want extra copies of either of these materials, please contact Sam in the office on 020 7820
4900 or sam.lund-harket@wdm.org.uk.
We are also working on a booklet on alternatives to corporate control of energy which showcases
some of the positive alternatives that are being developed around the world, as part of our series of
booklets on alternative ways of organising the world. This will be distributed to groups when it is
finished.
Dirty coal: protest and speaker tour
The world’s biggest mining company, BHP Billiton, is holding its AGM in London on Thursday 23
October. We are working with London Mining Network (LMN) and other allies in the UK to host
representatives of Colombian communities affected by the company’s part-owned Cerrejón coal
mine.
They’ll be attending the company’s AGM to tell shareholders about the destruction of their
communities and livelihoods by the Cerrejón mine and speaking at a public meeting at University
College, London, which is sponsored by BHP Billiton. In addition, they will be visiting a number of
towns around the UK to highlight the destruction being caused by the Cerrejón mine.
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London - demonstration outside BHP Billiton AGM, Thursday 23 October, 10-11.30am
London - public meeting at UCL: Chemistry Auditorium, Christopher Ingold Building, Gordon
Street, WC1, Thursday 23 October, 7pm-9pm
Norwich - Friday 24 October
Sheffield - Sunday 26 October
Durham - Monday 27 October
Newcastle - Tuesday 28 October
Glasgow - Wednesday 29 October
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Edinburgh - Thursday 30 October
South Lanarkshire - Friday 31 October
Oxford - Monday 3 November
Full details are available at www.londonminingnetwork.org.
If you’re based in any of these cities, you should already have been contacted directly about the
event in your area, but if there’s an event on near you, please do go along.
Campaign update: Trade justice
WDM’s campaign to stop the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in its tracks has
a busy autumn ahead.
Changing the Government’s position
Increasing pressure is being put on the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Scottish Nationalist Parties to
strengthen their position against TTIP through a combination of local lobbying by WDM groups and
others, as well as meetings between WDM staff and senior party representatives.
European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI)
The European citizens' initiative allows one million EU citizens to participate directly in the
development of EU policies, by calling on the European Commission to make a legislative proposal.
A coalition of groups from across the EU, including WDM and German group Campact, are trying to
launch an ECI to withdraw permission for the EU’s mandate to negotiate TTIP and conclude a similar
trade deal with Canada. Unfortunately the European Commission has rejected the proposed ECI.
WDM and others are concerned this is a political rather than a practical decision to restrict debate
and scrutiny of TTIP. We are considering a legal challenge to this decision and will keep you posted.
European Day of Action, 11 October 2014
Activists and campaigners across Europe were so inspired by the UK’s Day of Action on 12 July that
they are organising one across Europe on 11 October. London activists are planning a NoTTIP bike
ride. In Edinburgh, corporate robots will be on the streets. Other actions are in the planning stages in
Leeds, York, Brighton and Exeter. Contact groups@wdm.org.uk for more information about what is
happening in your area or visit www.nottip.org.uk
Building local coalitions
A key tactic in winning the campaign to stop TTIP will be building strong local coalitions across the
UK and Europe. You may have taken action at the end of August with 38 degrees. You may have
already made links with local trade union branches and environmental groups. A useful activity at
your next group meeting would be to identify which local groups your WDM group could work with
to build greater grassroots opposition to TTIP. We are working on a local NoTTIP campaign pack
which will help you to do this effectively and will be available in the next few weeks. We are also
planning a teach-in in Parliament, and the north of England, on how to lobby your MP on TTIP. The
event in Parliament will be on 11 November. More details to follow but contact
ed.lewis@wdm.org.uk if you’re interested.
NoTTIP Times: order your copies
A new edition of the popular NoTTIP Times newspaper is out. Order copies for distribution at the 11
October day of action, stalls and other relevant events. Email activism@wdm.org.uk
Scotland update: after the referendum
On 18 September, for the first time since the treaty of union was signed 308 years ago, Scottish
people had the opportunity to democratically choose whether or not to remain part of that union.
And people wholeheartedly took up this democratic opportunity. The electoral turn-out was
phenomenal: nearly 85% of those registered to vote participated. For us, as social justice activists,
the level of participation in the debate was heartening, as was the vociferous public call for a society
based on social justice and equality, which seems never to have been stronger. It has been an alltoo-rare, but incredibly inspiring example of people realising their power.
This is something to be celebrated and held on to. With this kind of energy and realisation of people
power, we can more strongly and confidently challenge the structures and policies that favour the
political elites, the markets and big business and that undermine social justice - here in Scotland and
around the world.
If you live in Scotland and want to keep active after the referendum campaign, we are organising an
open space discussion for activists on where we go next. ‘Global Justice in a New Scotland’ takes
place on Sunday 5 October in Edinburgh, and is part of the Edinburgh World Justice Festival:
http://www.wdm.org.uk/events/global-justice-new-scotland-open-space-discussion
We are also involved in a range of other exciting events, see the ’events’ section for more info.
Events
Edinburgh World Justice Festival 2014 opening conference: Resources, Climate and Conflict
When: Saturday 4 October, 10.30am – 4.30pm
Where: Appleton Tower, 11 Crichton Street, Edinburgh EH8 9LE
Opening conference of the Edinburgh World Justice Festival.
Keynote speakers include the anti-globalisation activist and academic Walden Bello and
environmental activist and poet Nnimmo Bassey (both by video link). WDM Scotland will be running
a workshop on TTIP, and there will be other workshops on global justice issues. Part of Edinburgh
World Justice Festival (30 September-20 October, see more at www.ewjf.org.uk).
The Edinburgh World Justice Festival runs from 30 September until 20 October and there is a whole
range of fantastic events. For more information go to the website:
Global Justice in a New Scotland
When: Sunday October 5, 1-4pm with time for tea and coffee
Where: City of Edinburgh Methodist Church, Nicolson Square, EH8 9BX
Open space discussion for activists on where we go next after the referendum. Free to all, no
registration required. Part of the Edinburgh World Justice Festival. See more at:
www.wdm.org.uk/events.
Naomi Klein book launch: This Changes Everything
When: 7-9pm, 8 October
Where: Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford
WDM are supporting an evening of discussion with author and activist Naomi Klein capitalism and
climate change. The event will be introduced by Dame Vivienne Westwood, designer, activist and
founder of Climate Revolution. To book tickets go to:
https://records.climateoutreach.org.uk/civicrm/event/register?cid=0&reset=1&id=27
Klein will also be speaking at an event organised by the Guardian in London on 6 October.
Reclaim Power week of action
Take action to highlight the need to transform our energy system into one that is sustainable and
democratic. Hold an event, a stunt, a stall or write to your paper. Also, make links with the Fuel
Poverty Bill of Rights.
When: October 10-18
Where: Across the world
Contact activism@wdm.org.uk to let us know of your plans or for support. See the climate and
energy justice campaign update for more info.
6 Billion Ways Film Night: TTIP – Capitalism on Steroids
A series of short films on TTIP and speakers discussing strategy for defeating it. Open to the public
and free.
When: 14 October, 6.30pm-9pm
Where: Rich Mix, London
For more information see the 6 Billion Ways Facebook page: www.facebook.com/6billionways
Dirty coal: protest and speaker tour
Representatives of Colombian communities affected by BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining
company, are coming to the UK to protest and talk about their experiences. Join the protest in
London or attend one of the many talks across the country.
When: 23 October-3 November
Where: Across the UK
See the climate and energy justice campaign update for more info.
Leeds for Change presents Summat New
Leeds for Change is a new organisation that aims to support groups working for progressive social
change, helping them work together and draw in new people. Its launch event, Summat New, is a
day-long activist gatherings with a wide range of workshops and opportunities for learning and
networking with other groups.
WDM is holding a workshop on TTIP at the event, and we’re really hoping that groups from across
the north-east will be able to attend to meet, share ideas and experiences and plan future action.
Where: Leeds
When: 8 November
See www.leedsforchange.org.uk for more info on the event and to register (at the time of writing,
registration will be open soon). And contact ed.lewis@wdm.org.uk if you are planning on attending.
TTIP lobbying training in Parliament
There will be a training session in Parliament to help activists develop their skills in lobbying their MP
around TTIP.
Where: Houses of Parliament, London
When: 10 November, late afternoon
Contact ed.lewis@wdm.org.uk if you want more information or are interested in taking part in this.
Current materials
New food campaign materials
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REPORT: Carving up a continent
BRIEFING: A new wave of colonialism
STUNT PACK: Stop the corporate takeover of African food
BOOKLET: Stop the corporate takeover of African food
BRIEFING: Questions and Answers
ACTION CARD: Stop corporations from slicing up Africa
BRIEFING: MP talking points *new*
ACTION GUIDE: World food day *new*
Food sovereignty
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BRIEFING: Collective solutions to changing food prices.
BRIEFING: Food sovereignty
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BRIEFING: Food sovereignty tricky questions
FILM PACK: Whose food? Our food! Includes discussion guide
DVD: Growing Change plus promotional leaflet
DVD: Seeds of Freedom
DVD: Best Before
Carbon Capital
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ACTION CARD: Stop bankrolling coal
LEAFLET: Stop bankrolling coal
REPORT: Banking while Borneo Burns
CAMPAIGN BOOKLET: Carbon Capital
LEAFLET: Injustice in Indonesia
LEAFLET: Mapping dirty finance
FILM PACK: Carbon Capital film pack, includes WDM’s film about mining in
Indonesia
ACTION PACK: Bringing the extraction back to the banks
Energy justice *new materials*
SIGN-ON STATEMENT: Energy Bill of Rights (Fuel Poverty Action)
LEAFLET: Energy justice
BRIEFING: Energy justice
Trade
BRIEFING: Profiting from people and the planet: How new trade deals threaten democracy,
development, public services and the environment
ACTION CARD: Stop the corporate takeover
LEAFLET: Stop the corporate takeover
BOOKLET: ‘Rough Trade’ - a collection of articles on the new trade deals published in Red
Pepper
GUIDE: Building a Europe for people not profit - lobbying pack for WDM activists around the
European elections
NEWSPAPER: No TTIP Times *new*
General materials
DVD: Making Another World Possible: Talking alternatives at the World Social Forum (made
by WDM)
LEAFLET: Join a local group leaflet (can be overprinted with groups’ contact details)
BOOKLET: Fighting the cuts, lessons from around the world