Global Justice Brighton and Hove

We are really looking forward to taking part in Brighton International Women’s Day 2020 on 7 March at Brighton Dome and Brighton Museums. This year’s theme is Women and the Climate Emergency and there is a fantastic programme with many different activities.

Global Justice Now has been campaigning on climate justice for many years. The climate crisis has become impossible to deny for anyone but the most hardened denier, and in many parts of the world women are particularly hard hit by the consequences of it. But they are also often the ones leading the way to tackle the crisis. Also, in November this year the UN climate talks for world leaders (COP26) will be happening in Glasgow.

Dottie Guerrero, Head of Policy and Advocacy at Global Justice Now, will take part in a panel discussion chaired by Caroline Lucas MP on Women and the Climate Emergency at 2.30pm in the Brighton Dome, Concert Hall.

Global Justice Brighton & Hove will be present all day with a stall. We will have lots of material on our current campaigns. This is a great opportunity to meet and chat to us.

One of our priorities for this year will be the post Brexit trade deal being negotiated between the US and the UK. We need volunteers to help run stalls, organise a public event, do outreach, social media and much more.

A recent report by Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA), the successor organisation to the Anti-Apartheid Movement, explores how Southern Africa loses billions of dollars every year through trade misinvoicing and unjust debt. ACTSA places these huge financial outflows in the context of unrealised economic and social rights in the region. Listen to the report’s author, Sunit Bagree, discuss the report’s findings and proposed solutions. Sunit, who is Senior Campaigns Officer at ACTSA, will also be available to answer questions on the broader state of human rights in Southern Africa 25 years after the end of apartheid, and the role of international solidarity in supporting contemporary struggles for justice in the region.

Join us for this free public talk at the University of Sussex, Arts A103, Falmer Campus on Wednesday, 30 October 2019 from 6.30pm. There will be plenty of opportunity for questions and answers. Everybody welcome. The venue is wheelchair accessible and can easily be reached by public transport. Please email globaljusticebrightonandhove @ riseup.net with any queries.

This event is organised by Global Justice Brighton & Hove and Global Justice Now Brighton Youth.

Reading:

The Money Drain: How Trade Misinvoicing and Unjust Debt Undermine Economic and Social Rights in Southern Africa

Honest Accounts 2017: How the world profits from Africa’s wealth

 

 

The World Transformed is a four day politics, arts and music festival running alongside the Labour Party Conference in Brighton from 21 to 24 September 2019. Global Justice Now will be present with speakers, including Director Nick Dearden and Head of Policy and Advocacy Dottie Guerrero, at a number of events some of which are listed below; though do check the programme for further events. We will also be present with a stall. See you there!

Empire 2.0 – how do we end Britain’s destructive footprint on the world

Panel • Friends Meeting House – Meeting Room

Date: Sat 21.09.19 at 1pm – 2:30pm

From Empire to the present day, how has Britain’s international economic policy has impacted on the rest of the world (from Slavery and Empire onwards) and what policies do we need to change this?

Everything you wanted to know about climate negotiations but were too afraid to ask

Workshop • Komedia – Studio

Date: Sun 22.09.19 at 9am – 10:30am

The Paris Agreement is done – we’re saved right? No. There’s no point thinking about institutions – leave it to the liberal NGOs, yeah? Also no.

Climate change negotiations may seem impenetrable. They may seem like our best chance to limit ecological breakdown, a necessary evil, or a greenwashing extravaganza. Whatever you think, they are coming to the UK in 2020 and the left better be ready.

This session will be about the politics behind the policy and what we can do over the next 18 months. Activists who want to know what to expect from the COP26 summit, this is your session.

Building a Movement that Supports Migrants

Workshop • Friends Meeting House – Lecture Room

Date: Sun 22.09.19 at 1pm – 2:30pm

Labour needs a compelling, bold vision for challenging racism, exploitation and attacks against migrants. But what does such a vision look like? Who ought to create it? And how can the Labour movement go beyond the existing framework and racist rhetoric set by the media and the right?

This event will launch a migration charter issued by migrant rights groups calling for an immigration policy based on justice, dignity and fairness, and will work with activists to discuss how they can bring this vision into being.

Remain, reform, revolt: In and against Europe

Panel and Discussion • Green Door Stores

Date: Mon 23.09.19 at 11am – 12:30pm

Labour is now committed to demanding a referendum and backing Remain against a Tory Brexit. Everyone on the left agrees we can’t settle for the status quo in the EU. But, however you describe it (reform, transform, revolt) what does changing Europe mean? Doesn’t the EU’s constitution make it impossible to democratise it or change its policies? In an interactive session, we’ll talk practically about what a left movement – in and out of government – can do about democratic reform, the environment, migration, and workers’ rights.

Winning on an internationalist platform

Panel and Discussion • Friends Meeting House – Lecture Room

Date: Mon 23.09.19 at 11am – 12:30pm

Learn about how we can act “for the many” globally, not just locally. Join this participatory workshop to identify transformative international climate, migration, trade and finance policies, winnable narratives and allied constituencies.

Back in November 2017 the new trade bill was quietly introduced in parliament, it recently passed the second reading stage. As it stands the UK parliament has very limited powers over trade and if the bill passes in its current form, Westminster MPs will have less influence over any EU-UK trade deal than MEPs in Brussels or even deputies in Belgian regional assemblies. On the other hand, it will give trade secretary Liam Fox and the UK government huge powers to negotiate trade deals without parliamentary scrutiny and accountability. These days trade deals aren’t just about trade, but they affect every area of life such as social policy, labour standards, consumer rights, environmental protection – all things that are in the public interest. It is an extremely worrying and undemocratic development. But we can stop it if we mobilise enough people power!

Join Global Justice Brighton & Hove to discuss what a truly accountable and democratic trade policy could look like and what you can do to make it happen!

When: Tuesday, 27 February from 7-9pm

Where: lovethatstuff Fair Trade Shop, 8 The Boardwalk, Waterfront, Brighton Marina, BN2 5WA

 

Fairtrade Fortnight 2018 runs from 26 February to 11 March.

It’s time to put people before profit in the global drug industry. Hear from South African campaigner Sibongile Tshabalala from Treatment Action Campaign about the fight for access to affordable HIV medicines and how this relates to us in the UK. Heidi Chow from Global Justice Now will talk about the new pharmaceuticals campaign. Emma Robertson from Just Treatment will speak about her personal fight to drop the price of a live saving new breast cancer drug.

7pm, Thursday 9 November
Brighthelm Centre, North Road, Brighton BN1 1YD

More info and book your free place >>

In spite of medical advances, millions of people around the world suffer and die from treatable conditions because they cannot afford to pay for expensive medicine.

Drug companies can charge runaway prices because new drugs are protected by legal monopolies. This model has made the pharmaceutical industry the most profitable in the world.

The companies justify high prices by claiming they need to recoup their research and development costs. But nine of the top ten pharmaceutical companies spend more on marketing than on research and development. And the majority of innovative early-stage research is actually publicly-funded.

Event organised by Global Justice Now and supported by Youth Stop AIDS.

 

 

At Global Justice Brighton & Hove we’ve a lot of experience in challenging the power of corporations through actions and campaigns.

When we first heard about TTIP we went out onto the streets and started raising awareness through street theatre, stalls, linking up with other groups and just generally shouting (articulately) rather a lot.

 

It worked. Yay! TTIP is now dead in the water. However the fight never stops.

We’re now focusing on what a post-Brexit Britain will look like. Under May’s Conservatives, cosy trade deals with U.S. corporations look likely – with all the lack of welfare regulations and care for the environment they’ll drive in as part of the deal.

Worst of all, the deals will be locked in for life so no future governments will be able to get out of them.

But fear not: together we are stronger than divided, and if the powers that be think they can drive through trade deals that benefit big business at our expense without anyone noticing, they’ll soon be thinking again.

So here’s what you can do.

If you live in Brighton or Hove: get along to one of our local group meetings. Second Tuesday of the month at the Old Ship Hotel on the seafront (get more info here). We can’t do anything without people like you getting involved. It doesn’t matter who you are or how much or little you know. All are welcome, and we’re all very friendly, honest 😉

Join our facebook group and sign up to our email list.

Join national Global Justice Now if you haven’t already. We can all send off a signed postcard, at least. Many drops make an ocean. Let’s stop the corporate bully boys in their tracks.

Much love

Global Justice Brighton & Hove