Global Justice Sheffield

Global Justice Sheffield

News

Global Justice Now AGM and “Hope in the Dark” gathering

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Global Justice Now is holding its AGM in Sheffield this year on July 9th, 11.00 am, in the Owen Lecture Theatre, Sheffield Hallam University, Owen Building, S1 1WB.

Members and affiliated local groups are invited to attend the AGM. To join, please register for a “+ AGM” ticket on the link below.

This will be followed at 1.00 pm by the “Hope in the Dark” national gathering:

“Climate breakdown, reparations and a just transition”,

1-6 pm, Owen Building, Sheffield Hallam University.

Join the national gathering to discuss what a just global transition looks like, and how climate justice movements are taking a stand the world over.

Please make sure to book in advance at: globaljustice.org.uk/hope

Speakers:

  • Lumumba Di-Aping – Former UN climate negotiator
  • Esther Stanford-Xosei – Reparations scholar-activist
  • Nick Dearden – Global Justice Now
  • Nick Anim – Jubilee for Climate
  • Maggie Mason – South Lakes Action on Climate Change

With panels and workshops on:

  • The case for climate reparations
  • Vaccine inequality
  • Climate and trade
  • Debt and climate justice
  • Mobilising towards a globally just transition

For more information and to register, please go to:

https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/event/hope-dark/

 

AGM and October meeting

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We are holding our much delayed AGM on Thursday, October 7th, 7.00-9.00 pm, at the Quaker Meeting House, 10 St James Street, Sheffield S1 2EW. This will be our first face-to-face meeting since the start of the Covid pandemic.

The formal business will be followed by a discussion on the theme of “Looking forward to COP26”.

Please join us, although only members of the group will be able to vote on matters at the AGM.

Sheffield Climate Alliance day of action, Saturday, 25th September 2021

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Global Justice Sheffield is joining in the Sheffield Climate Alliance day of action on Saturday, 25th September, 10.00 am to 4.00 pm. We will be having a stall on Fargate, and campaigning on the issue of “corporate courts” and climate justice. Please join us if you can. If you can help on the stall for an hour or so, please contact Oliver by email: o.blensdorf@gmail.com .

You can find more about this campaign on the Global Justice Now website at https://act.globaljustice.org.uk/don%E2%80%99t-let-corporate-courts-block-climate-action

Festival of Debate talk: Trade As If People Matter

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Global Justice Sheffield would like to invite you to join us for an online talk by Nick Dearden, Director of Global Justice Now, on “Trade As If People Matter”, on Wednesday, May 19th, 7.30 – 9.00 pm, as part of the Festival of Debate.

Nick Dearden, highly respected Director of Global Justice Now, will lay bare how far modern international trade deals are going in adopting and entrenching the principle that maximising short-term corporate profit should override any protections for us and our planet.

Drawing on his new book, Trade Secrets: The Truth About the US Trade Deal and How We Can Stop It, he will set out an ambitious agenda for transforming the international economy so that it can work for people and the planet.

You are invited to join Global Justice Sheffield in celebrating the postponed 50th anniversary year of the national founding in 1970 – in Sheffield – of Global Justice Now, formerly the World Development Movement. Bring your questions and suggestions to an action-focused evening led by one of the foremost campaigners in this field.

This event is free.

To register and for more information about the event, go to this link:
For the full programme of events at the Festival of Debate 2021, see:
For a trailer about this year’s Festival of Debate, see https://youtu.be/aCM8fK8y24o

Urgent action: STOP #CETA

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STOP #CETA

MEPs will be voting on CETA on mid February. Ask your MEPs to vote NO!

[A] Actions

1. Email our two local Labour MEPs (details below).

2. Send our Stop CETA tweets to as many people as possible. You can also use these on Facebook and other social media.

Tweet 1: URGENT: MEPs are voting on CETA mid-Feb. Ask yours to vote NO! Take action: http://groups.globaljustice.org.uk/sheffield/2017/01/12/urgent-action-stop-ceta/

Tweet 2: .@LindaMcAvanMEP #CETA poses a major threat to our democracy, public services and the environment. Vote NO to CETA

Tweet 3: .@rcorbettmep #CETA will give power to Corporations, threatening democracy, public services & the environment. Vote NO to CETA

Make sure you include the full stop at the front of the tweet. And you can swap the text of around and double your efforts.

A couple of fun cat-related Stop CETA tweets. Images to add to the tweets/Facebook etc are below to download & use.

Tweet 4: The fat cats have their eyes on our democracy. Stop #CETA. Take action:  http://groups.globaljustice.org.uk/sheffield/2017/01/12/urgent-action-stop-ceta/

Tweet 5: Don’t pretend CETA won’t happen. It will, if you don’t take action now. Stop #CETA. Take action: http://groups.globaljustice.org.uk/sheffield/2017/01/12/urgent-action-stop-ceta/

And you can of course make up your own.

3. Get as many people as possible to do the same!

[B] The key MEPs to contact

In the European Parliament, the Labour MEPs are part of the Socialists & Democrats group, which has not yet decided on its official position on CETA. It is currently “inclined to vote yes”, but a lot of them are anti-CETA and there may well be enough waverers who could be persuaded to tip the balance against.

In the UK, it is the Labour MEPs who may respond if there is enough public pressure on them. The Conservatives are determined to drive CETA through Parliament, and the LibDems are very pro-CETA. The Yorkshire & Humber Labour MEPs are:

Linda McAvan

79 High St, Wath upon Dearne, Rotherham S63 7QB.

Home: 01709 875665, Email: lindamcavan@lindamcavanmep.org.uk

Twitter: @LindaMcAvanMEP, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/linda.mcavan

Key position: Chair of the [International] Development Committee: so see the final main paragraph. of the Employment Committee’s Draft Opinion

Richard Corbett

Unity Business Centre, 26 Roundhay Road, Leeds LS7 1AB

Phone: 0113 2430554, Email: richard@richardcorbett.org.uk

Twitter: @rcorbettmep, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rcorbett

Key position: Deputy Leader of the Labour Group Members of the EP

You can use ‘Write to Them’ to send a letter online. Go to https://www.writetothem.com, put in your postcode, and write away. This includes to MEPs in other regions.

[C] Message guidelines

Keep it short. Use your own natural ways of saying things. No need to go out of your depth, it’s your personal values and experience that you are expert in, and that will make your message convincing.

  1. On CETA’s economic damage, if you want to quote something that carries undeniable weight, you can’t do better that the one-page Draft Opinion on CETA put out in November 2016 by the European Parliament’s cross-party Employment and Social Affairs Committee, below (PDF: note 1). You can also find it on our website. Pick out a particular point that most concerns you and say why, or just refer to the opinion in general.
  1. On the attacks on democracy and on social and environmental public-interest policies, the best thing to look through – just to pick out bits that catch your attention – is an everyday-language legal analysis of CETA by Gus Van Harten, of Osgoode Hall Law School, available here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2850281

[D] Why CETA must be rejected by MEPs

For a run-through of the main dangers of CETA, see PDF (note 2).

PDF: CETA – Opinion on CETA & Why CETA must be rejected by MEPs

Example letter to MEPs re CETA vote

To download the cat-CETA images to use on Twitter, Facebook etc, right click, then save as…

Tweet - eyes off democracy SMALLER

Tweet - don't pretend SMALLER

Campaign success: EU takes historic step to stop banks betting on hunger

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After 3.5 years of campaigning by WDM & it’s supporters, EU negotiators 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. Full details