News and information about Global Justice Cleveland
Come and hear about the experiences of a volunteer peace keeper in Palestine on Tuesday 9th April from 8.00pm in the upstairs room of The Marine Hotel, Marine Parade, Saltburn. Tricia Griffin has recently returned from Palestine so it is an ideal opportunity to find out more about a country that is often in the news.
The meeting is being organised by East Cleveland WDM.
East Cleveland WDM held an open meeting in Saltburn, on the 11th January, for people to have the chance to meet with local MP Tom Blenkinsop and Deborah Doane, Director of WDM.
The meeting was well attended with representatives from the local churches, the local WDM group and promoters of Fairtrade products. Food speculation was the main topic covered during the meeting.
Members of East Cleveland WDM met with Ian Swales MP for Redcar on 7th June to talk about the Rio+20 conference on Sustainable Development. He said he appreciated talking about important issues. He promised to read the briefing and talk to Nick Clegg before he goes to Rio.
Group meeting held to discuss our work on the Food Campaign and Climate Change.
We hope to meet Ian Swales to discuss Rio+20 and to have a Food Speculation Campaign stall at a 4 People not Profit event in Saltburn on the 7th July.
Agreed we would try to arrange a speaker meeting in September – Benny Dembitzer has written a book called ‘sleep walking into global famine’. He is willing to speak to groups on this subject. He is willing to come to our area in September. It would be good if we could find a local group to join in with in order to jointly host this event.
Summer Walk We agreed to try the new footpaths around Tocketts Wood which would give us a circular walk. We will do this on Tuesday 17th July at 7.30pm. We will stick with the same formula of taking a picnic to share.
Held belated AGM for 2011-12. Annual report discussed and amended. Copy to be sent to National WDM. Subs paid. Account in reasonable state at the moment.
Planned activity for coming year including: writing to MPs, meeting MEP, summer walk on Tuesday 17th July, speaker event with Benny Dembitzer who has written a book called ‘sleep walking into global famine’ in September.
Next meeting: Tuesday 29th May.
Rising prices due to speculation
(Letter by Fiona Hall MEP to The Journal, Newcastle, 29 March 2012 p.22, 23):
“The annual grocery bill for the average UK household has risen by more than £100 in the past year, putting additional strain on the budget of ordinary families. One of the reasons food prices are rising so steeply is that banks and hedge funds are pouring huge volumes of speculative money into food ‘futures’ markets. This destabilises prices so much that they become detached from supply and demand. As well as hurting consumers in the UK, excessive financial speculation is disastrous for the world’s poorest people. New rules to curb speculation on food are currently being discussed at an EU level, and as MEP for the North East I’m pushing hard to make sure we bring prices back under control. A number of constituents have contacted me and are campaigning very actively on the issue. I hope that together we can make a difference.”
