Global Justice Manchester

Trump

Day of Action on US Trade Deal

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The pandemic preoccupying and dominating the public’s consciousness, many more fundamental issues are in danger of being overlooked. So Global Justice Now, along with Trade Unions, War on Want, Traidcraft and others called for a national Day of Action on Saturday 24th. October, looking for images to use in publicity and for a photo petition as well as to raise awareness in the general population.

The threatened trade deal has numerous strands, all of which threaten our institutions, our standards and our democracy. They are even more dangerous to people in the Global South. If the UK’s acceptance is rolled out as a benchmark of what is required to trade with the dominant economic powers. In Manchester, we united with allies and made several outings to protest the deal. We also invited people to send in and post photos of themselves, their dogs, homes and associates with the message “Stop the US Trade Deal”.

Thursday (22nd. Oct.) saw us in Chorlton, exploiting the wide pavement outside Oxfam on Wilbraham Road and using a simple quiz-display to stimulate engagement with questions on US standards in food hygiene (how many rat hairs are allowed in 25g of cinnamon), permitted insecticide residues allowed on apples, toxic ingredients banned in cosmetics, and the expected cost of the 50 most expensive medicines used in primary care. This proved an excellent way of engaging people. Unusually we didn’t have cards to sign but the excellent flyer GJN had produced gives a link to an e-action and we had a QR code for those who wanted to find out more with their mobile phones. Footfall was disappointing, but with a higher than usual percentage engaging.

Next day we focused on the threat to democratic authorities taking action to stop climate change and joined with War on Want, Fridays for the Future, and Greater Manchester Campaign Against Climate Change’s normal vigil outside the Central Library.

Even the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst joined the protest, reminding Boris Johnson of his commitment on climate change, “We must act now, right now … extinction is forever, so our action must be immediate,” with the suffragist slogan slogan “Deeds Not Words”.

And on Saturday itself we combined with War on Want and Keep Our NHS Public activists to stage a photo-op outside the MRI complex on Hathersage Road.

This brought honks of support from passing traffic and was streamed live by a KONP supporting media student.

Pia Feig (a GJN member and NHS activist spoke about the threat to our health service, not simply in being directly “taken over”, but of the threat of “standstill and ratchet clauses” being included in the deal, progressively biting off chunks of our service.

She also drew attention to the looting of the NHS patient records database. This is probably the most complete patient health database in the world and is an extremely valuable resource for medical research. Its sale to trans-national corporations is one of the least noticed ways in which the the Government is privatising the NHS. It is yet another example of how publicly funded research and knowledge production is expropriated by trans-national capital for profit, rather than being used for the benefit of patients. Big Pharma will look for lucrative opportunities to develop expensive medicines for minor complaints, rather than tackling public health priorities. Meanwhile, US insurance companies will want to use the data to identify and discriminate against the most vulnerable by refusing insurance to them.

Stephen Pennells picked up on the indirect threats to health, reprising the threat to nutrition through US food standards before going on to talk about employment, climate change, government secrecy and the worrying record of Biden, as Obama’s deputy supporting TTIP. This means that whoever is elected President, the campaign will have to further intensify. Both govenments, freed from the deadline of the US election will want something to spin as an economic opportunity in the aftermath of the pandemic’s effect on business, jobs and profits.

These actions reinforced alliances and spread our message. We learnt that we need to develop our media skills. Our speeches were unscripted and reasonable in terms of the “Just a Minute” criteria of speaking without “hesitation, repetition or deviation”. However a quarter of an hour is too long for modern attention spans and it would have benefitted from interactive questioning or reflective prompts.

So we are planning to work on this with a couple of our new recruits, one of whom is a new media student at Salford Uni. If you would like to be involved, don’t be shy!

Trade Campaigning with XR

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Whatever the severity and urgency of the Pandemic it’s important to keep one’s eye on the fundamental threat: climatic disaster

As often emotive headline facts and anger lead to sub-optimal effect when the big picture is not seen; battles may be be won, but the fundamental causes and issues will bring new problems to be addressed.

Sun and Samba

So, wary of the implications which are likely to result from reckless and irresponsible trade deals a couple of us went along to the formal beginning of Extinction Rebellion’s #WeWantToLive “Northern Rebellion” in St. Peter’s Square on 1st. September.

As you would expect on a sunny day, it was well attended with a samba band that had come from the NE as well as folks old and young from the Lakes and Lancs, Bury and Burnage. The road outside the Midland Hotel and Friends Meeting House was blocked, some meditated and the police were gently in attendance while the trams ran unmolested with their squealing drowning out speakers at times.

We mingled offering materials, inviting people to sign petitions and come to our webinar, QR codes for which had been generated and printed. However as time went on I became more aware that “Town” is but a shadow of its former self; plenty of activists, but fewer tourists, shoppers and workers. Many are more cautious of others.

Wary of being trolled (as had already happened in the comments on the MEN website’s disparaging report written before the event) organisers were at pains to encourage social distancing, mask wearing and the peaceful nature of the event.

Speakers

The mysterious Red Brigade made silent appearances (seen here contemplating the fate of climate refugees), as did independent photographers; HS2 was vilified. a priest in Salford represented Christian Climate Action and a wheelchair user emphasised the desire of disabled activists to participate. A formation dance was performed (socially distanced) and a GP spoke of his experiences in Africa . He had set up a Doctors’ XR group which had coordinated posting health warning stickers on over 50 local petrol stations. Marc Hudson from Climate Emergency Manchester spoke well on the need for persistence (and their petition for a scrutiny committee); Mums and Dads with tots and children (celebrating the end of exile from school) chalked the pavement.

We were reminded of the Palestinian issue, Demilitarise Education, and problems facing renters. Later moving testimony was given from the sister of Chris Alder who had been died in police custody 22 years ago. Young Manchester FoE members, School Strikers and other young folk spoke in varied ways: some sweary, some naïve, some inarticulate in their distress.

Eventually we had a chance to point out the links between trade and ecological and climate breakdown. People listened, but action is more difficult and was disappointingly not evident.

Marching

Later the faithful went on a wander-march around the city centre, supposedly to see the sites of “climate sinners”, though the only couple of stations I noted were outside the DWP (2 St Peter’s Sq., underneath Ernst and Young and next door to KPMG, both of whom Christian Aid challenged a few years ago (with PwC and Deloitte) for their failures to make climate-impact reporting norms for banks. Banks were not visited (their day will come) and we ended up squeezing past a police van and legion to admire a pink sprayed building hidden next to the Rising Sun and Credit Union offices in Lincoln Square. We were told this was used by the Daily Mail. We had a bit of a sing song and made our way back to St. Peter’s Square.

We left at that point having tickets for the launch of Nick Dearden’s book. Many others sat around taking refreshments before a vigil, more speakers and workshops.

The knock on effect of the pandemic depleting the audience resulted in what I found a bit disappointing after last year. One always has a first flush but now they were victims of their success – Deansgate is still largely pedestrianised and their threat to business is well enough perceived for mass media to almost blank them.

Supportive councilors were conspicuous by their absence and there were fewer non-campaigners engaged. An incredible amount of expense, organisation and work had gone into preparing publications, hardware, and roles; they could have coped with many more attending.

Then came the rain…

I went along on Tuesday where a much smaller gathering was blighted by persistent rain. There were even fewer passers-by to be engaged but some fun was had by a mass dance. Later we were led off by a circuitous route, with police motorcyclists buzzing too and fro to block off streets . This ended in Dale Street outside the offices of Boohoo where there was some shouting, a smoke flare was let off and (when the samba band arrived) there was more sound. Unfortunately my camera conked out due to the rain and photocopied posters decomposed.

Take away learning experiences:

  1. Get your speech in early by making contact with the organisers before we did!

  2. Have plenty of materials to give away (we virtually ran out as the climate stickers, illustrated climate justice booklet and A4 window posters were taken eagerly- we can only hope that they will be deployed strategically).

  3. Have an action as easy as possible- even with QR codes, getting people to sign a postcard there and then is easier than an e action on a mobile. A giant postcard to sign works well.

  4. Rebels are energetic, committed and imaginative; they are diverse and taking strikes to ensure their inclusivity – we would do well to be inspired and learn much from them; but many lack campaigning experience and can seem to suffer from tunnel vision – we should offer help.

  5. The Rebels achieved a lot with a lot of people taking things on and turning up.

  6. No matter what is planned, the weather and people’s personal and legislated responses to the pandemic may be determinative.

  7. Cover up in the rain, have a prepared “Plan B” stunt to exploit it, or go home!

Getting the threat of TrumpinYourTrolley out to those not in our networks

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As the government steams full ahead to achieve the trade situation it wants there seem to have been daily headlines saying one thing and another- often conflicting and yet perhaps all part of a “great game” to distract protesting activists away from profound issues, allowing them to feel satisfied with peripheral items, sacrificed for the greater gain.

One distraction may be the squabble over “Chlorinated chicken”- the washing of slaughtered poultry in weak solutions of the chemical used widely in swimming pools. (Peracitic acid is also being used as an antimicrobial wash.)

Daily it seems there are clear and indignant protestations from members of the government that there will be no weakening of food and animal welfare standards and certainly no chlorine washed chicken; yet, as if in a ping-pong game, senior figures in the US continue to insist on its acceptance, not only in the UK, but across Europe.

Although there are perhaps more far-reaching and reliable issues we can challenge, food is an emotive issue and for many people the implications for animal welfare are also extremely important. This should make them sit up and pay attention to messages about things they are not usually interested in. So it makes sense to still exploit silly images of chicken suits, placards and props.

However we should also make sure we explain that the issue is far wider by pointing to other consumer issues that people may relate to more such as cosmetics, petro-chemical uses, mining degradation of the environment, air and water standards.

And let’s not forget issues such as Genetically Modified / Engineered foods (and keep an eye and ear open for related euphemisms such as “Synthetic Biology”, used on Radio 4 on the 8th Feb) and the wholesale harvesting and export of data – both metadata on our internet use when we click on a “Yes” at a new website, and also the confidential medical data the NHS holds on us and our families. This, it is reported, is exported to the US where it can be sold to commercial interests in Big Pharma to develop treatments that will be sold back to the NHS in a developing era/market of bespoke designer medicines and interventions. (Of course this focus will also take efforts away from developing responses to then needs of the poor.)

But in the meantime, we have been using the “Trump Selection” materials to draw attention to the #TrumpinYourTrolley website and action card. In recent weeks boxes (containing the card) have been left in trolleys outside supermarkets.

Wishing to spread Tesco’s corporate cheer a few boxes were donated to a car-park tree where they could attract the attention of admirers.

Occasionally boxes have been left on the shelf where there is a space amongst similar lines (boxed/ bubble wrapped Chicken portions and packets of easy-cook rice or vegetables for children). These have been photographed and shared through twitter, trying to point out the incongruity of the spoof line with what is currently on offer- the target isn’t the supermarkets.

Last week we went out again, this time moving up-market to Morrisons in Chorlton. This had virtually no staff restocking shelves (in contrast to some high turnover/ low volume convenience stores it the city centre) and we experienced no challenges from security staff as we transferred boxes from a carrier to basket and thence to shelves and chiller cabinet. One only needs a couple of boxes, and as elsewhere the shelf-labels provided proved unusable with the fittings in the shop

This is an easy action to take and you don’t have to be James Bond! If you feel unconfident, photos can also be staged in public spaces using props and situations that are provided.

Examples used and tweeted include the Gandhi statue and graffiti- people can be drawn to these by use of hash-tags, but of course they don’t have the immediate tie in of a card to send with its explanation.

If you fancy doing your own bit of campaigning in your local area and supermarkets, contact offleyroad@globaljustice.org.uk and they will send what you need or contact globaljusticemanchester@fastmail.com and we’ll come to do it with you. As the weather improves why not join together for a market stall promoting the new line to the public- perhaps at Levy Market? Why not find a supermarket trolley, get a Trump Mask, red tie and blue suit and stage a photo with him in the trolley dispensing “goodies”?

Save our NHS, StopISDS, stopping “Trade with Trump”, Climate Emergency and Brexit- all in the mix.

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I find it all too easy to get confused at the moment with so much stuff going on- and that’s not counting the domestic concerns like harvesting the apples or getting the paddy that was our lawn cut for the last time.

But perhaps that’s because a lot of these concerns are inter-related and one thing leads to another.

So when local GJN member Pia Feig, also a member of Keep our NHS Public, was putting together a public meeting with People’s Assembly’s “alternative Fringe” during the Conservative Party Conference she thought Global Justice might contribute. This led to Heidi Chow, being invited and speaking. Heidi was ideal as GJN’s senior campaigns manager and leading on the Pharmaceuticals campaign.

Heidi solidarity message Transform the Medicines System_web
We tweeted Heidi challenging other parties to follow Labour’s lead.

Her talk followed the news of Labour adopting a radical stance with respect to medicines and was entitled “Trading with Trump, what a trade deal will mean for the NHS and Trump”. It followed several activist NHS workers talking about their problems and campaigning where they work and developed people’s understanding of where things appear to be heading.

Heidi had already blogged on the threat to the NHS from American trade aspirations several months ago; she went further in Manchester, updating on the winds blowing to and fro with statements, push-back and denial (perhaps camouflaging under-the-table reformulation of ideas to be brought out later).

She pointed out the converging interests of a post-Brexit Brexiteer government eager to prove it can deliver a trade deal with the US and pressure on Trump to deliver “America First” trade deals as he comes up for reelection next year. Informal trade talks have been already going ahead and she believed it could be ready for signing as early as next July.

As trade deals normally take years one may feel this is likely to be a bit dynamic- simple horse-trading with quid pro quos rather than more careful considerations. The current loss of the Trade Bill with it’s pro-Trade Democracy amendments means the Government can strike and then bring a trade deal to Parliament for a take-it-or-leave-it decision as it has been accused of doing in respect to a “no deal Brexit”. This is in marked contrast to the existing EU system where the European Parliament is intimately involved in setting a mandate and continued scrutiny before voting. The Queen’s Speech contained nothing to dispel such fears.

A changed government (if Labour) might sink such schemes, but should a Tory Brexit happen, Heidi expected a UK-US trade deal very soon.

Heidi Chow speaking_web
Heidi explaining the threat of a Trump trade deal

She pointed out that traditional trade deals’ concerns over tariffs have been replaced by more extensive coverage of topics like “Intellectual property”, environmental regulation and access to public services and giving rights to foreign investors.

She went on to speak of the “negative listing” approach by which everything was up for trade (some might say “grabs”) that wasn’t specifically excluded. In the case of services for the NHS this ranges from portering, cleaning, and maintenance to clinical and testing- perhaps difficult for inexperienced non-hospital experienced trade negotiators to consider without leaving mistakes and loopholes. (Even sophisticated and experienced US negotiators had made about 1000 mistakes on such an exercise!)

The threat of US medicine prices hitting the NHS was no surprise to those of us who have been engaged in the GJN pharmaceuticals campaign. She saw Trump’s blaming the NHS for high medicines’ prices in the US as ridiculous when NICE here is having to ration medicines because of prices. The US explicitly wants high American prices to apply in the UK, thereby threatening the NHS’s work.

Beyond these immediate and more widely known threats she moved on to spell out the implication of corporate courts ( generically know as “Investor State Dispute Settlement”- ISDS). Although the US, already bitten by their rejection in the TTIP scheme, is not pushing these, our government hasn’t excluded them. This is despite their opening the door for massive drains on public healthcare funds, should claims be tabled objecting to healthcare-motivated policy decisions.

Caroline Bedale_web
Caroline Bedale of Keep our NHS Public showing a three-way link of NHS, Climate and Trade

But beyond these and more invisible is the threat posed by US corporate take-over of massive NHS data bases which could be transferred to the US and there mined to develop applications that can be sold back to the NHS providing it with diagnostics- not privatisation as usually understood, but nevertheless appropriation of NHS assets which will then be resold, ripping-off the NHS using its own resources; a more sophisticated 21st. century way corporate control can encroach on our NHS!

She said the US objected to any rules restricting cross-border data movement and wanted not only to take our data out of the UK, but then to keep their source code and algorithms.

When she had met Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary John Ashworth he hadn’t appreciate the probable implications of a trade deal with Trump- how much do most back-benchers unless we educate them?

Thanks are due to Heidi for an enlightening and inspiring talk- taking further even those who thought they were boned up on the subject. The only negative was that although those present were the sort of people who can be expected to go out and take the message to their communities and workplaces, we were a minute proportion of the Greater Manchester population who are at risk of these menaces.

The insidious influences of corporate lobbyists are constantly at work gently diffusing their world-view and norms into our society and decision makers’ thinking. To counter this we need to speak out now, whether it’s in relation to the NHS, other public services, the environment and dealing with the Climate Emergency, workers’ rights and conditions, food and chemical standards, animal rights or any one of any number of issues.

We need to speak loudly, clearly and repeatedly. Let’s do it!

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We took the message out to the site of Peterloo to generate publicity pictures, generated interest from passers by and were noticed and photographed by tourists.