Global Justice Brighton and Hove
Welcome to Global Justice Brighton and Hove
If the government’s massive cuts in public spending have angered you as much as it has us, then come to the huge London march on Saturday 26/3/2011 and join in with the WDM contingent.
We’ll be getting the Stop the Cuts Coalition buses from St Peter’s Church at 8:30am – to reserve a place email brightontradescouncil@gmail.com
Alternatively some people are meeting at Brighton Station at 8:30am to travel up by train. See the main WDM site for the gathering point
See you there!
On 12th Feb 2011 we held a “hunger casino” in the centre of Brighton in collaboration with Global Xchange, a group of young people from Nigeria and all over the UK.
We asked passers-by to play blackjack against George Osborne and a bowler-hatted banker to highlight how bankers, backed by the UK government, are gambling on the future price of food, causing the price of food staples to fluctuate wildly and pushing the world’s poor into greater poverty.
Jellybeans were handed out to the winners, and people were asked to sign cards to send to their MPs or sign a letter to George Osborne demanding strict regulation of the banks and an end to secret deals.
The event was a huge success; it seems that bankers aren’t too popular in Brighton. Many thanks to all the guys from Global Xchange for lending their support and for helping to make the day go so well.
Protesters take to the roof of Churchill Square shopping centre to voice anger at Arcadia boss Phillip Green’s massive tax avoidance scheme. Arcadia owns British companies Topshop, BHS and Dorothy Perkins, amongst others, yet paid no UK income tax on £1.2 billion it earned in 2005.
Christian Aid are running a campaign, TRACE THE TAX, to end tax haven secrecy. See here
The country’s first Green MP, Caroline Lucas, has demonstrated 100% support for WDM’s climate debt campaign.
In a meeting with WDM Brighton & Hove members she said:
“I completely support WDM’s campaign to urge the government to provide sufficient resources as grants, not loans, to developing countries in order to help them adapt to climate change, especially as we in the West are the primary cause of global warming. It is absolutely wrong to saddle developing countries with more debt.”
She also confirmed that she would be taking up the issue with Andrew Mitchell the Development Secretary, as well as asking him why DfID were refusing to pass on the pound coins donated to the UN Climate Adaptation Fund.
Two vodafone stores in Brighton were closed down on Saturday 30th October by protestors angry that the company has been reported as avoiding a £6billion tax bill.
The store on Western Road was closed for Saturday afternoon as protestors chained themselves to each other outside the doors. Eight people were arrested by the police. The action coincided with 17 others across the country on the same day.
In October we took to the streets of Brighton armed with a World Bank ‘loan’ shark to illustrate the issue of climate debt being forced on developing countries.
The campaign highlights how the UK government has refused to grant any money to the United Nations Climate Adaptation Fund, and is instead insisting that all money to developing countries be dispersed through the World Bank, which has a history of dishing out money as loans with strings attached.
We asked passers-by to donate a pound to the Fund, which would be passed onto the Department for International Development as an indicator of how the British public feel on the issue of new debt for developing countries.
