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Jackie was part of a group of activists, coordinated by Global Justice Now, visiting radical groups in Barcelona. Barcelona has a history of alternative thinking arising from the Spanish Civil War. Jackie talked about community programmes, local activists taking political power, visits to social justice squats, and other actions. She guided our discussions on what this could mean to our community in Reading. The photo shows firefighters demonstrating against austerity. Despite many competing events we had a very good turnout of around 30 at RISC, attracting also a group of interested Spanish and Catalonian students, mainly from Reading University. Jackie made a strong case for the success of community groups, working in solidarity in communes, providing workshops and radical political education, and achieving positive and tangible support from the politicicians in Barcelona. She set this within the context of radical movements in the histroy of Barcelona. She mentioned the rapid success of the Mayor and other Barcelonian positicians being recently elected after a short but well-orchestrated campaign. To see how radical campaigners are dealing with the real complex world of local politics is a great opportunity to match principles of justice against conflicting demands. Her talk provoked a lively discussion, including the significance of solidarity and maintaining an education programme. All in all, a very successful meeting.

Dan Iles, from Global Justice Now, gave a first hand account of his visit to Tanzania, to an audience of over 20 at our meeting at RISC on May 4th. Powerful corporations are lining up to seize control over the country’s land, seeds and soil. However, passionate small-scale farmers are fighting back. Dan guided us through the main players in the struggle over Tanzania’s food system and discussed the wider context in Africa and around the world. His visit to organic farmers uncovered powerful groups, using inter-cropping, green manure, and natural plants, whose perfumes repelled insect and other pests, providing high yields of staple crops such as sorghum. A local system of agricultural advisers provided guidance on sustainable agricultural methods. In contrast, funded in part by the UK DfID Aid budget, was investment by large corporations, locking local farmers into contracts to use hybrid seeds, dependent on inorganic fertilisers, and synthetic herbicides, with mechanical harvesting. These farmers relied on The New Alliance programme to provide loans to buy these imports and to provide an external infrastructure to get crops to market. It is designed to entice the farmers into the cash economy, rather than providing local food, where they would use their earnings to buy food in place of growing it. However, their debt incurred by buying into the contracts, continues to increase, since they must  buy new seeds, fertilisers and herbicides each and every year, from the corporations. The government has  facilitated land purchase at low prices, displacing the locals from land they have owned and used for years. It was a controversial meeting with often lively contributions.

Bean Pole Day, at Caversham Court, Reading, devoted to sharing activities and stall about many aspects of growing crops, was a great venue for a Global Justice Reading stall on the theme of Food Soverignty. We focussed especially on Monsanto’s pesticide, Roundup, as aprt of our campaign against corporatisation of the food industry. Monsanto’s web site says: “Roundup® agricultural herbicides are the flagship of Monsanto’s agricultural chemicals business. Roundup herbicides and other glyphosate products can be used as part of an environmentally responsible weed control program and fit with our vision of sustainable agriculture and environmental protection.” Global Justice Reading disputes the idea that glyphosphates can be part of an environmentally responsible agricultural programme. There is some evidence, now accepted by the European Commission, that glyphosphates may be especially toxic, leaving substantial residues on harvested crops, and is particularly damaging to farmers who use high concentrations on Genetically Engineered crops designed to withstand such herbicides in the increasing industrialisation of agriculture in the world. Roundup is also marketed towards the domestic user who wishes to control weeds on paths and in the garden. Control over its use there is quite lax, relying on the ordinary user to make sophisticated judgements about how to use it. We had a small army of ethusistic helpers, many dressed as Roundup salespeople, with spoof containers appropriately labelled. As always, we engaged with many members of the public and other stall holders during the day, with strong support for this, and other Global Justice Reading Campaigns. A great day, with many new supporters recruited.

NEXT MEETING

Dan Iles from Global Justice Now

Powerful corporations are lining up to seize control over the country’s land, seeds and soil. However, passionate small-scale farmers are fighting back.

Dan will guide us through the main players in the struggle over Tanzania’s food system and discuss the wider context in Africa and around the world.

9 March 2016: Beyond Fair Trade – Stopping Corporate Exploitation’.

Once again the people of Reading expressed their concern about TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) as 70 people crowded into RISC’s hall to hear Nick Dearden, Director of Global Justice Now, speak.

Nick outlined the problems with TTIP and a new generation of trade deals that give disproportionate powers to large corporations but he said “We have stopped similar trade deals before. Three and a half million people don’t want this treaty and if we all join together, we can stop this one.”