Event

Setting up an extraction site outside our local HSBC

December 2, 2013 by Leicester & Leicestershire

On 4th November we had a stall outside HSBC on Hinckley Rd in Leicester.

Leicester WDM supported ‘Dirty Energy Month’ – a month of worldwide public protest and action to say NO to dirty energy and YES to clean, renewable alternatives.

Members of Leicester WDM set up an ‘extraction site’ outside our local HSBC bank and talked to people as they walked past. We also gave a letter to managers in the branch asking HSBC to stop investing in projects that promote climate change. HSBC underwrote £74.64 billion in share and bond issues to fossil fuel companies between 2010 to 2012.

We want the financial sector to come clean on its true impact. We need new rules to demand that banks and investors report on the carbon footprint of their investments.

Why not:

WATCH the WDM video: how our banks finance climate change and

DOWNLOAD the WDM report: Banking while Borneo burns

… TAKE ACTION – Help send HSBC a giant pile of coal

Water, water …

November 28, 2013 by Leicester & Leicestershire

On 29th October, Leicester WDM and Christians Aware jointly hosted an evening on the theme of “Water, water”.

Alhassan Adam of Oxfam spoke about countering water privatisation in Ghana. Ghana was required to charge everyone for access to water and implement water privatisation as a condition of receiving a structural adjustment loan from the World Bank. In response to this, the National Coalition Against Water Privatisation was formed. The coalition gained impact by working with related networks in Africa and worldwide to keep the needs of water consumers on the agenda. While privatising water there were many problems, including alleged corruption and utility companies working in the short term to make quick money, without a long term commitment.

Everyone needs water to live, but privatisation has meant that some people cannot afford to buy clean water. They end up travelling distances to find sources, which are often polluted. Rural communities are not good candidates for water privatisation as they are not profitable and they often depend on water projects funded by non-governmental organisations.

Mansoor Ali of Practical Action spoke about ‘Small schemes for the better use of water’. Practical Action specialises in providing technological solutions for development problems. In a heavily urbanised world, Mansoor talked of the need to find creative solutions in difficult urban environments. Practical Action now increasingly has to facilitate dialogue so that the needs of vulnerable people are taken into account when developing community services. Mansoor’s presentation led to a lively discussion about how to make a real difference to the lives of people who lack the basic necessities of life.

We greatly appreciated both presentations. There was an encouraging message that by working together we can make a real difference in the lives of some of the world’s poorest people.

Protect mother earth – speaker Yasmin Romero Epiayu from Colombia

November 10, 2013 by Leicester & Leicestershire

Yasmin Romero Epiayu spoke movingly in Nottingham on 21st October about the impact of open cast coal mining on her community. Yasmin lives in the La Guajira region of northern Colombia, where the giant Cerrejón coal mine has swallowed up whole villages and forced people out of their homes.

The health of people living near the mine has deteriorated significantly and there are an increasing number of birth abnormalities. There are plans to increase the size of the mine … and divert a local river. This is being actively challenged by the local community. An article from the Guardian newspaper gives some background to the debate about mining in La Guajira.

This speaker meeting aimed to highlight the role that the UK Financial Sector plays in bankrolling this kind of initiative. Coal is a dirty energy, there is serious environmental degradation … and this area is the second poorest in the country. The mine is not benefiting the lives of the local people.

Please support the campaign to make banks come clean about their fossil fuel finance – find out more on the WDM website.

Speaker meeting on water – Tue 29th October

October 26, 2013 by Leicester & Leicestershire

“Water, water …..”

on Tuesday 29th October from 7-9pm

Christchurch, Clarendon Park Road, Leicester, LE2 3AD

Countering Water Privatisation in Ghana by Alhassan Adam (Oxfam)

Small Schemes for the better use of water by Mansoor Ali (Practical Action)

Organised by Christians Aware and the World Development Movement.

All welcome

Make bankers come clean about their fossil fuel finance

September 10, 2013 by Leicester & Leicestershire

Leicester WDM had a stall at the Annual CND garden party on Sunday 1st September. What a fantastic response from people who attended the event. A clear message was sent to Vince Cable – ‘Make banks accountable for the Carbon footprint of dirty energy projects that they bankroll overseas.

If you haven’t signed up already, please read all about it and sign the petition.

Please join us to demand that the financial sector is forced to disclose the carbon footprint of its investments.

John Richard Moore 1937-2013

July 21, 2013 by Leicester & Leicestershire

It is with much sadness we announce the death from cancer of Leicester WDM group member Dr John Moore on June 23rd 2013. He joined the group in 2001 and served as Secretary, taking part in group meetings, stalls and lobbying activities up to Christmas 2012 when his health started to deteriorate.

John is in the middle in this picture

John was born in Wolverhampton in 1937, the son of a dental surgeon and trained in medicine working initially in hospitals in Birmingham. He became a paediatrician specialising in work with disabled children, moving to Leicester in 1976. He had a distinguished medical career which also involved sharing his skills and knowledge with people in developing countries, particularly Uganda which he visited frequently to run training courses and also led groups on visits. John also played an integral part in starting up rehabilitation services for people with physical disabilities as part of the Gondar Link between Leicester University and the University of Gondar in Ethiopia.

John was brought up as a Methodist and continued as a practising member of the denomination until his death and this experience informed his beliefs, values and practice throughout his life and stimulated his interest in development issues. He had a strong sense of social justice which led him to join and support WDM, both nationally and locally, giving both time and money generously. He read widely and often had useful background information on development issues to bring to the group and was an effective campaigner on stalls and political lobbies. His highlights included demonstrating against Barclays Bank, taking part in the Make Poverty History march in Edinburgh in 2005 and lobbying MPs and MEPs. We will miss his sense of humour, trenchant views, generosity and good judgement very much in our group but will carry on the campaigning struggle which is what he would have wished.