The Oxford Real Farming Conference 2015 (ORFC15) took place in January. Presentations from the event are now available as videos on YouTube: Oxford Real Farming Conference 2015 videos
Time to Act: public meeting
Come to the Long Room at Oxford Town Hall on 5th February to hear Natalie Bennett of the Green Party and other speakers discuss the urgency of action on climate change. This event is organised by Oxford Campaign Against Climate Change.
Global Divestment Days
Friday 13th and Saturday 14th February will be marked as Global Divestment Days.
What is divestment anyway?
Divestment is a simple idea: you stop investing in fossil fuel extraction. Many otherwise ethical organisations have a history of funding the climate crisis through investment in fossil fuel companies. That’s no longer acceptable now that the link between fossil fuels and climate change has been proved beyond doubt. But big organisations are slow to change; hence the massive global divestment movement, because we don’t have time to keep funding climate chaos.
What’s going on in Oxfordshire?
On Global Divestment Day there will be a rally in Bonn Square at 1pm, preceded by demonstrations from the different groups involved in the campaign. There will also apparently be a flashmob in the city centre.
Any progress yet?
Good: the Church of England is already on board. Oxford Diocese, who recently passed a motion in support of divestment from fossil fuels.
Bad: Oxfordshire County Council still has pension funds invested in fossil fuels. There’s a petition asking the county council to divest, which will be handed over on Friday 13th as part of the celebrations.
I want to know more!
Email fossilfreeoxon@gmail.com with any questions!
National conference: Take Back Our World (London)
WDM will hold a special national conference in London on Saturday 21st February 2015 to mark the relaunch of WDM as Global Justice Now. The theme will be Take Back Our World and it will be held at Rich Mix in London.
Goodbye Oxford WDM, welcome Global Justice Oxford
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
We 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!
