Global Justice Oxford

Campaigning for justice for the world's poor in Oxfordshire

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Green Fair, Oxford

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On 5th December we had a stand at the Oxford Green fair to spread awareness of our current campaigns. It was great to meet so many people enthusiastic about protecting food soverignty and protesting energy privatisation, and we managed to hand out all of our petitions before the event was over! If you’re interested in learning more about Global Justice why not come along to our next meeting on 12th January at 7:30 at Oxford Town Hall?

To find out more and contact your local MEP about food sovereignty you can read up on our campaign here. To learn more about energy injustice and how the COP21 talks will affect it our website has lots of information here.

GJ Oxford are transforming society – starting tomorrow.

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Job opportunity at COIN

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Oxford-based charity COIN (Climate Outreach Information Network) is seeking to recruit a Researcher. From their job ad:

Working closely with COIN’s Research Director, Dr. Adam Corner, the Researcher role is varied and stimulating, offering exciting opportunities to apply the rigour of academic research to the practical challenge of catalysing societal engagement with climate change. In joining our growing team, you’ll combine your desire to spread engagement with climate change, with a rigorous academic approach and a flair for great writing.

Salary: £25,704 plus 3.5% non-contributory pension after 6 months
Type of employment: Permanent
Hours: Full-time
Annual Leave: 30 days including bank holidays
Location: Oxford (some home working possible)

www.climateoutreach.org.uk/about/recruitment/

Goodbye Oxford WDM, welcome Global Justice Oxford

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It’s official: the organisation known for 45 years as WDM (World Development Movement) will from today officially be known as Global Justice Now. This means that our group, known since 1970 as Oxford WDM, will now be called Global Justice Oxford. As the whole concept of “development” became mixed up with big business, our old name carried a lot of unhelpful baggage. The new name is a better reflection of what we do: fight for a fairer world.

Which MP has the most postcard-signing constituents

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Graph showing number of postcards signed by MPWe often have a stall at friendly events like the Green Fair, the Cowley Road Carnival and the One World Fair. And at these stalls, we often ask people to write a postcard to their MP to lobby them about an important issue. For the most recent event I’ve made a note of  the number of postcards per MP. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

As you might expect for an event taking place in the city centre, the two Oxford MPs Andrew Smith (Oxford East) and Nicola Blackwood (Oxford West & Abingdon) are in the lead. The other Oxfordshire MPs trail behind: David Cameron, Ed Vaizey, John Howell and Tony Baldry.

Possibly more surprising: the six postcards signed by people who don’t live in Oxfordshire at all. This particular sample included people from Swindon and Shropshire. Of course this isn’t a statistically valid sample, just a snapshot from one event. But it’s interesting, all the same!

One tiny thing you can do to stop TTIP

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At our July meeting, group treasurer Tina Everett gave a talk explaining in just five minutes why we need to fight TTIP. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a deal being negotiated between the United States and the European Union. Sounds like business as usual – but this business is being conducted behind closed doors, so secretively that many people are only just hearing about TTIP, despite the fact that negotiations began in July 2013.

Perhaps the most scary part of the proposed deal is the Investor-to-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). In plain English, that means that corporations will have the right to sue governments for acting against corporate interests. So when citizens’ interests and the interests of big business clash, governments will be afraid to stand up for their own citizens. For example, similar deals have been used to prevent governments bringing in plain cigarette packaging, because that’s good for public health but bad for the profits of the tobacco industry.

The good news is that people are waking up. The European consultation on TTIP got a record number of responses, despite barely being reported in the media anywhere. And there was a national day of action in July. Oxford WDM has been in touch with our political representatives in both the UK Parliament and the European Parliament and we’ve had some encouraging responses to our concerns.

Right now, there’s one tiny thing you can do to help stop TTIP: sign the 38 Degrees petition to Business Secretary Vince Cable. It should take just a few seconds, but it will help to show the depth of feeling against this terrible trade deal.

More on food speculation legislation

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We announced last week that we’d won a victory against the practice of “food speculation” by getting the EU to legislate against it. The world of financial trading is confusing, so here’s a quick explanation of what we meant.

 

What’s food speculation anyway?

It means betting on the future price of food crops. This betting on prices can actually affect the price, causing more volatile global food markets and driving up prices. For some people, that means a more expensive grocery shop but for others it means not getting enough to eat.

 

What’s this new legislation?

The full name is the Markets in Financial Instruments (MiFID) guidelines. The rules were developed by the European Union to help establish  “a safer, more open and more responsible financial system“.

 

What will it achieve?

It will limit the amount of “commodity derivatives” (financial instruments based on things such as crops) that can be held by investors. It will also force investors to be more transparent about their dealings, increasing public scrutiny and making it easier for campaigners like us to hold them to account if they behave badly. So: less dealing in food, more transparency about the dealing that does go on.

 

Sorry, what’s a commodity derivative again?

A commodity derivative is a financial contract based on the price of a resource (such as gold or coffee). The price of the resource, e.g. the price of wheat, affects the price of the commodity derivative. For many years the people who grow crops have made such contracts, but the problem arises when the link is broken between the crop, the grower and the buyer. Most people who trade in e.g. wheat derivatives will never see a sack of wheat or talk to a wheat farmer. Trading in commodity derivatives without any link to the people who buy or sell the actual commodities: it’s a recipe for market volatility and price spikes.

 

So what does all this mean?

This legislation will:

  • put a limit on how many commodity contracts you can invest in
  • make trading more transparent, so it’s more obvious how financial institutions are investing.

This will hopefully:

  • reduce abuse of the commodity market
  • reduce price volatility and the likelihood of spikes in the global price of basic goods such as wheat
  • make it harder for big players to dominate the commodities market

The market in commodity contracts will continue, but it will be better-regulated and more transparent than before.

Any questions? Please leave us a comment if so!