stunts & actions

On the latest international day of action against the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership – which saw 250,000 people marching in Berlin – Global Justice Brighton & Hove dropped a banner outside Brighton’s iconic Royal Pavilion to protest at the highly controversial trade negotiations between the European Union and the USA.

The banner with the legend “#STOPTTIP” remained in place for several minutes before the protestors were ejected by the Pavilion’s security team.

“We came here today to alert our fellow Brighton residents of the dangers posed by the potentially devastating Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP,” said Anna Cartwright, one of the campaigners.

She continued, “Over three million European citizens have signed a self-organised petition against this secretive trade deal, which will benefit huge corporations at the expense of ordinary citizens, and yet the juggernaut of trade negotiations still continues.”

Under the terms of the trade deal, currently-banned food products will be allowed to enter the market, the National Health Service could be opened up to private tender, and legislation intended to protect the environment will be quashed.

Also coming under fire from protesters is CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement), which will allow further privatisation of public services, and will pave the way for multinational corporations to sue governments in private courts over policy changes that will affect their profits.

Anna said, “Both deals are a direct attack on democracy, as they will give corporations massively increased influence over government policy in areas such as healthcare, food safety and the environment.”

“However, many individuals, groups and organisations have been working tirelessly across Europe and the United States to ensure that the trade deal and its contents are brought into the public eye, such as today’s international action and our banner drop this afternoon.”

“We had a great response from passers-by, many of whom were unaware until today of the many trade negotiations taking place in the European Union without consultation of its citizens.”

On a rainy Saturday afternoon in October, a coalition of Sussex-based campaigning groups again took to the streets of Brighton to protest at TTIP, the latest assault on our democracy. We held ‘The Great Corporate Puppet Show’, as businesspeople attempted to take control of public services and the environment, alongside hundreds of other protests taking place across the European Union.

TTIP will give unprecedented powers to corporations, giving them the right to sue national governments, and will slash hard-fought-for regulation. If agreed, TTIP would make it easier for western companies and governments to push deregulation and neoliberal economic policies on poorer countries, worsening poverty and inequality.

Together, we can defeat this insidious piece of legislation. Come to our next WDM meeting and join the battle for global justice!

Hot on the heels of our Barclays stunt, we did our bit for International Stop the Tar Sands Day with a spot of tarring and feathering outside our local publicly-owned branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland, in conjunction with People & Planet.

RBS are using taxpayers money to finance companies drilling for oil in the tar sands, the most environmentally destructive project on earth.

We told RBS what we thought of them for their involvement in the tar sands two years ago, but as they’re now about to begin financing drilling in Madagascar, we decided to let them know we haven’t gone away yet.

More photos (and in higher-res) on our photobucket page.