Be sure to support Fair Trade Fortnight 24th Feb – 9th March. Watch out for local events to buy fairly priced goods.
WDM pressure on EU legislators has paid off!
Limits to curb speculation on food prices agreed
UK blocks proposals for tougher regulation
EU negotiators last night agreed to introduce regulation to prevent speculation by banks and hedge funds driving up food prices and exacerbating the global hunger crisis. The new controls will place a limit on the number of food contracts that banks and other finance companies can hold, and will force traders to open their activity to greater public scrutiny.
Anti-poverty campaign group the World Development Movement has hailed the decision as an historic step forward, but said that the UK government’s opposition to tough controls has resulted in serious loopholes in the regulation. In particular, limits will be set at national rather than EU level, which campaigners say risks a regulatory ‘race to the bottom’ as countries could compete to set weaker limits.
The group is urging the European regulator ESMA to ensure that the new rules are implemented effectively, and not watered down further by industry lobbying.
Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley together made an estimated £2.2 billion from speculating on food including wheat, maize and soy between 2010 and 2012. Speculation increases price volatility and has been a major factor in the sharp spikes in global food prices of the last six years.
Nick Dearden, director of the World Development Movement, said today:
Public outrage over food speculation has been huge and the fact that the EU has listened to that anger is a victory for public pressure. But the UK’s role in watering down the regulation has been a disgrace. The Treasury has put the profits of banks like Goldman Sachs above the basic human need for food, with the result that the new rules could be too weak to be effective. Yesterday’s agreement is a good step forward, but now we need to make sure the limits are set at a level that properly tackles excessive speculation.
The new rules on food speculation are part of a major piece of European financial reform, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). Once it has been officially approved by MEPs and EU finance ministers, it must be incorporated into national legislation in each of the 28 EU member states.
Skills Share Feedback Report from Kathleen – our branch contact
SKILLSHARE CONFERENCE LIVERPOOL
Merseyside WDM
Many thanks to everyone who attended the successful conference on Saturday. We welcomed delegates from several other regional branches including Central Lancashire, Calderdale, Manchester and Rochdale as well as interested guests from other Liverpool organisations. We were privileged to hear Nick Dearden, the new Director , who had come to meet northern members and challenged us with the three major issues of the present time, firstly the need to break the stranglehold of big finance over government both nationally and globally, and its aggressive aim to acquire the global ‘commons’ (the resources which should be available to all the world’s citizens)/ Secondly the increasing gap between rich and poor is not now just a matter of the North and South divide but a clear and widening division between the poor and the wealthy elites within all countries. Thirdly he warned against an obsession with aid without tackling the root economic problems that make aid necessary and which weaken its effectiveness. He encouraged us however to believe that change is possible and that we are seeing this especially in Latin American countries where financial pressure by multinationals is being rejected by governments and people
Sarah Reader , the Groups Coordinator, gave a very good talk on the way the big UK banks are investing in destructive mining operations in Indonesia and South America and we saw an excellent film on this. We hope to show this again in the near future. This proved to be an excellent motivator for the direct action we took in Liverpool City Centre where we set up a fake mine outside HSBC and urged people to stop banks ‘bankrolling climate change.’ This was a very public skillshare!! and we are grateful to Sarah and Maya the Northern regional coordinato for bringing the props and encouraging us in our activist roles.
The workshops were excellent – we are going to use technology with greater confidence in future and good discussions were held about the best campaign methods including the proposal to provide more user friendly leaflets to hand out to the public in actions. Members of the different groups are invited to add to this blog their own record of the discussions in which they were participants. Photos of the day are also on our webpage.
Many thanks to the rest of the Merseyside group for leading the icebreaking session and providing extremely delicious soup to fortify even the most apprehensive activists.
Next meeting Wednesday Dec 11th at 20 Deacon Court Waterloo when we shall combine business with a little festive cheer to celebrate a successful year.
Kathleen
What a fantastic Skills Share day! Let’s celebrate it’s success!
We are in the process of updating our website and shall have lots more to say about this fantastic day shortly
And I know of course that we all want to share the pics below
[Read more…] about What a fantastic Skills Share day! Let’s celebrate it’s success!
Carbon Capital
The UK finance sector is bankrolling climate change. Banks, pension funds and other finance companies are funding dirty energy projects that are destroying people’s lives and pushing the planet to the brink of catastrophe. Yet millions of people have no access to electricity. Across the world, people are resisting dirty fossil fuel projects affecting their communities, and looking for better ways to ensure people have access to energy.
Planning Meeting for Northern Skills Share
A reminder that we are holding a planning meeting next week on
WED NOVEMBER 6th AT 7.30 P.M at 10 DEACON CLOSE WATERLOO – to finalise arrangements for the forthcoming WDM Skills Share conference in Liverpool on Saturday November 16th.
Do come if you can!! Your help will be greatly appreciated.
Kathleen, Ita, Margaret, Jo, Hannah and Mary