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The local action group that was called Cambridge World Development Movement  has today unveiled a new name and logo.  The newly renamed group Global Justice Cambridge will continue its usual operations, including holding regular meetings, running stalls, lobbying local MP Julian Huppert, and organising protests.

Global Justice Cambridge is one of 45 local groups operating as part of the Global Justice Now network, whose central office is in London.  For more than 40 years the World Development Movement had campaigned against the root causes of poverty and injustice in the world, with campaigns encompassing a variety of issues from trade, to food and energy.  In September 2014, members of the World Development Movement from around the country voted to change the name of the organisation to Global Justice Now.

Aidan Baker, co-secretary of Global Justice Cambridge, said:

“For many years, we’ve brought Cambridge residents together who are concerned about global injustice to campaign for a fairer world.  As Global Justice Cambridge, we’ll continue to act in solidarity with activists, civil society organisations and social movements in the global south and campaign for economic justice and an end to global inequality.”

Nick Dearden, the director of Global Justice Now, said:

“This isn’t about changing our values, but expressing them more effectively.  About building a bigger movement and running more high profile campaigns which can really start to change the world.  Global Justice Now will continue to stand with communities around the world facing injustice, and we hope to mobilise larger numbers of people for a better, more equal, more democratic world.”

Global Justice Cambridge continues to meet on the third Wednesday of the month, usually in members’ homes.  Anyone interested in joining the group should contact globaljusticecambridge@gmail.com .

For more information, contact globaljusticecambridge@gmail.com / 07940 543019.

http://groups.globaljustice.org.uk/cambridge

CWDM members took to the streets on Saturday 11 October, in protest at the TTIP trade deal being negotiated between Europe and the US.  The deal threatens democracy and public services including the NHS.

We had a literature stall as focus, but we gathered signatures in nearby streets and are giving out leaflets in streets around the city.

And it wasn’t just us.  This particular action was pulled together online, using the 38degrees site, and other key players were Cambridge Green Party, Keep Our NHS Public, National Health Action Party, and Cambridge People’s Assembly.  The Cambridge protest was one of hundreds of demonstrations across the UK, the rest of Europe and the US on 11 October against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership [TTIP].

David Cameron is pushing hard for the deal between the EU and the US, despite widespread concern over its effects. A recent YouGov poll in the UK found that 39 per cent of people thought the deal would be ‘bad for Britain’, while only 13 per cent thought it would be positive.

The TTIP deal could give big business, including giant US health companies, vast new powers over the NHS, and make it difficult for
future governments to reverse privatisation measures already introduced to the service.

The deal also contains a clause to allow multinational companies to sue governments – including the UK’s – over decisions they think might harm their profits. Under other trade deals, Slovakia has been sued for taking privatised health services back into public hands, Egypt has been sued for introducing a minimum wage and Australia is currently being sued for introducing plain cigarette packaging.

Cambridge World Development Movement co-secretary Aidan Baker said: “The threat of being sued would damage the ability of the British government to make decisions in the public interest – whichever party is in power after the next election. The TTIP deal would be a disaster for democracy and it would put services like the NHS at risk. But awareness of the deal has grown quickly over the last few months, and people are horrified by it. We believe that together we can win this campaign and stop TTIP.’

And campaigner Felicia Conner said:

“It is really crucial that we keep our NHS securely grounded on the principles of free at point of delivery and accessible to all irrespective of ability to pay. I want to say NO NO NO to the provisions of TTIP that open our public services and government to being sued without mercy by the Rand Corporation, GSK- Wellcome and so on.

“In America out of a population of 350 million, where there are more billionaires than anywhere else on the planet, about 50 million people have no access to any healthcare at all. This is an injustice of huge proportions and we need to stand up as a body and wholeheartedly oppose those interests and organisations that would bring about such changes here in Great Britain.”

For more information contact Aidan Baker on 07940 543019 or email baker.aidan5 at gmail.com .  And have a look at  http://bit.ly/1s6wztO for how the protests hit the Twittersphere.

 

Members of Cambridge World Development Movement joined over 100 other campaigners in a candlelit vigil on Parker’s Piece at 20:00 on Sunday 21 September.  The vigil was one of many events worldwide ahead of the UN Climate Summit, opening in New York on Tuesday.

Cambridge WDM Co-Secretary Clare Baker, who was at both the vigil and the London march, said:

“Climate change can’t be business as usual.  We want to see action.  In WDM, we want to see a halt to destructive coal-mines around the world — and that means an end to banks funding the mines.  It’ll be great if the New York summit can move that forward.”

The Cambridge vigil was organised jointly by Cambridge Green Party and the online campaigning body 350.org .

Cambridge WDM members joined a protest organised by 38degrees against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, outside the Guildhall, on Saturday 30 August.  This included leafleting and gathering petition signatures — and it was gratifying how many people, being approached with the petition, had noticed the leaflets and were curious about TTIP.

For why we’re campaigning against TTIP, see here.  38degrees’ petition calls on Vince Cable to fix it or scrap TTIP.  Within WDM, we’re asking MPs, MEPS and prospective European parliamentary candidates to oppose the deal, pure and simple.  But 38degrees got a lot of people on the street, and a lot of leaflets into their neighbours’ hands and houses, and joining in was a great way to spread the word about the largely secret negotiations of this threat.

For reasons why we need to say No to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) see the WDM post here.  Cambridge WDM joined with several other Cambridge groups on Saturday 12 July to say No to TTIP outside the Guildhall.   In the picture you see our group banner alongside a splendid issue-based banner Sue made for the occasion, and banners from other organisations opposing TTIP — the Cambridge People’s Assembly Against Austerity and the GMB union.  War on Want joined in too —

 

and we had a good speech from Daniel Zeichner, Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Cambridge.  Here he is pictured with Clare and our banner.

All pictures (c) Sue Woodsford 2014