Hannah and I attended a very lively relaunch of WDM as Global Justice Now and returned I think more committed to the new brand after hearing so many discussions about the injustices of corporate control across the world. The venue Rich Mix was a little cramped for the numbers who attended but this at least meant we never felt isolated! There was a great range of ages and interests, and excellent speakers.
Our day opened with Paul Mason in dialogue, an excellent survey of people’s protest movements against corporate and undemocratic control across the world which he is closely following and analysing and has described in his recent books . These movements have grown as a result of social media. Interestingly he said that the Taksim square demonstrations in Turkey were possibly the most significant because of the number of women who took part, contrasting with Greece.
How do these popular movements ensure their survival and achieve positive lasting change? Possibly by small group discussions finding common ground despite some ideological differences. We engaged in a practical example of this in a later session when we broke into small groups to discuss issues such as energy under the broad heading ‘Another World is possible’
Workshops included .’The people versus corporate power.How we bear TTIPs.’ ‘Take back our city: the housing crisis and global capitalism’. ‘Economics is for everyone?’ Children could create a meadow in an art workshop!
Nick Dearden director of Global Justice Now speaks with great clarity and authority. He was one of the panel at the session ‘How do we take on Global agribusiness ?’ Together with Samia Nkrumah daughter of former President Nkrumah and chair of the Convention People’s Party in Ghana. She has been heavily involved in the campaign against Ghana’s Monsanto law which would deprive small farmers of their traditional practices up in seed banking.
There was an excellent bookstall and we would highly recommend the new Global Justice Now magazine ‘Ninety Nine’ and the magazine ‘Red Pepper’ the latest edition of which has a leading article by Nick Dearden ‘The end of Poverty and other Development myths’. Naomi Klein’s book ‘This ChangesEverything. Is a’ must read ‘ for those campaigning for action on climate change.
