The same but different: Why we’re relaunching Victory on food speculation campaign Scottish independence debate: Progressive possibilities

Spring/Summer 2014

Brazil’S landleSS moVemenT aT ThirTy

In early 2000 a trade union friend and WDM campaigner introduced me to WDM. I hadn’t heard of WDM before, or if I had, I hadn’t recalled the name. However, I was interested in social justice issues and it happened that my view, that radical change was needed if we were to address the injustices faced by so many, was shared by WDM. So I became an active member of

the Oxford group, and shortly after joined national WDM.

I’ll admit that once I joined I didn’t think too much about the name, it was the issues that mattered. I’ll also admit that if it wasn’t for a friend encouraging me to join WDM, I might have ignored it. And that’s the problem. WDM is a great organisation, but the name can get in the way of our campaigning.

We’ve all been there. A WDM stall at a local festival, urging the public to take action on a campaign. People show interest, and ask, ‘who are WDM?’. And in the time it takes to explain who we are, the person has lost interest. Or they clinch onto the word ‘development’ in our name and assume we are a charity asking for money for overseas aid. This didn’t happen every time, but often enough that I realised the name was having an impact on how we were perceived, thereby affecting our ability to reach more people to bring about the change that’s needed. That bugs me, because WDM is as relevant today as it was when it was founded over 40 years ago. We should be the organisation that people turn to when they want to take action on global justice issues.

So for me the relaunch and new name which we’re proposing is a welcome opportunity to refocus our efforts, to reach more people, and to contribute to change that will bring justice for all.

Julieanne Porter WDM council and Sheffield group member

welcome action Spring/Summer 20142

The World Development Movement (WDM) campaigns for a world without poverty and injustice. We work in solidarity with activists around the world to tackle the causes of poverty. We research and promote positive alternatives which put the rights of poor communities before the interests of big business. Our network of local groups keeps global justice on the agenda in towns and cities around the UK.

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Take acTion action Spring/Summer 20143

call on your mP To SToP The ScramBle for africa’S food

In April, WDM launched its new campaign to stop the UK’s support for the corporate takeover of African food (see page 5). The government has pledged over £600m in aid through the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. Under this programme, in return for aid and ‘investment’ from corporations, African countries are being pressured to change policies in favour of big business. This will help corporations like Unilever and Monsanto take control of Africa’s land, resources and markets to make big profit. But for small-scale farmers, it means losing control of their livelihoods and the resources needed to grow food for local communities. African activists have called the New Alliance “a new wave of colonialism”.

In the last issue of Action, we asked you to contact your MP to ask them where they stand on the UK’s role in the new scramble for Africa’s food. We got responses from across the country. These are now helping us to target decision makers and campaign to government.

Now the campaign is launched, it’s time to put pressure on the UK government. WDM is calling on the government to stop supporting the new scramble for Africa and instead support food sovereignty for African small-scale farmers and communities.

Here’s how you can help:

Stop big corporations

Freepost RRBA-HAEG-YUHJ World Development Movement 66 Offley Road LondonSW9 0LS

slicing up Africa

Stop the corporate takeover of

African foodThe UK government is helping

corporations take over African

agriculture in the name of tackling

hunger. This will help big business

make vast profits, while small scale

farmers risk losing control of their

land, livelihoods and ability to feed

themselves and their communities.

It’s time the UK government supported

food sovereignty for people in Africa,

not corporate profit.

Send a card To your mPWith this issue of Action, you’ll find an action card. Use this card to write to your MP and call for the UK government to stop funding the New Alliance.

SPread The wordIf you’ve already written to your MP about this campaign, spread the word! Give your action card to someone else to use. Tell your friends, family and people in your area about the campaign. They can find out more at www.wdm.org.uk/food.

To keep up to date with the campaign, visit www.wdm.org.uk/food or follow @wdmuk on Twitter.

A new wave of colonialism How the UK government is helping corporations take control of African food April 2014

Supporter briefing

The global food crisis of 2007-8 put hunger at the top of the international agenda, sparking calls for more investment in

agriculture. Since then there have been a growing number of initiatives, championed by governments and multinational

companies, that claim to support agricultural production in Africa. Using the rhetoric of addressing hunger, they are

pushing a model of agriculture which increases the control of multinational companies at the expense of small-scale

farmers who feed 70 per cent of the population. Corporations are seeking new markets and their attention is turning

to Africa which the World Bank has dubbed “the last frontier” in global food markets. Aided by rich governments and

institutions, the scene is set for an alarming 21st century scramble for Africa.Carving up AfricaOver a hundred years ago, European colonialists carved up Africa. Under the guise of philanthropy, they claimed that Africans needed civilising and that the land was empty. In reality, Africa provided a convenient source of raw materials and cheap labour. Infrastructure such as ports and railways were built to transport resources such as rubber and ivory back to European markets to feed the industrial revolution and enrich the colonial elites. Today, these colonial tactics are being deployed once again by rich governments and big business who are colluding to take control of African land and resources.

Who benefits?The most recent of these initiatives was launched in 2012. The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition (New Alliance) is a G8 initiative that provides aid money and facilitates private sector investment to the African agricultural sector with the stated aim of lifting 50 million people out of poverty by 2022. There are currently ten African countries signed up: Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Benin, Malawi, Nigeria and Senegal along with just over 50 companies including Monsanto, Cargill and Unilever and around 100 African companies. In spite of the New Alliance’s rhetoric about poverty alleviation and addressing hunger, the real beneficiaries are multinational corporations who profit from gaining resources such as land and access to raw materials for input to their products. Claims around addressing hunger are undermined by the fact that, of the ten African countries with the highest levels of hunger, only one (Ethiopia) is involved in the New Alliance. Also the majority of countries in the New Alliance are coastal countries with ports that can facilitate the export of agricultural crops. In return for aid money and corporate investment, African

countries signing up the New Alliance are required to make

policy changes in land, seed and trade rules which will take control of the African agricultural sector away from small-scale farmers and into the hands of multinational companies.

The investment promised by the corporations prioritises export crops (such as tobacco, palm oil and biofuel crops) and plantations with heavy chemical use rather than growing crops for local consumption using sustainable techniques.

Infrastructure for exportAnother aspect of this approach which strongly resembles a modern-day colonial project, are agricultural growth corridors. This model is based on the perception that there are large areas of under-utilised land in Africa that can be used for large-scale agricultural production. By developing infrastructure in these areas, big companies can make it easier to import inputs such as fertiliser and pesticide and export crops to international markets. The international fertiliser company Yara came up with the concept of agricultural growth corridors in 2008 and it was adopted by

order a camPaign PackOrder an individual campaign pack. This will contain briefings and materials to help you tell others about the campaign and how to take action. Order your pack by contacting WDM on 020 7820 4900 or wdm@wdm.org.uk (please write ‘Agribusiness campaign’ in the email subject line).

At the end of April we brought Janet Maro, the founder of Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania, to the UK as part of the public launch of our new campaign. She spoke to hundreds of people at a public meeting in London alongside food policy expert Professor Tim Lang and also to meetings in Edinburgh and Birmingham. She also spent some time meeting people from the food sovereignty movement in the UK.

Janet spoke powerfully about the need to support small-scale, sustainable farming in Africa. You can watch a video interview with her about this at www.youtube.com/wdmuk

action Spring/Summer 20144wdm in acTion

On Saturday 15 March we organised a day-long workshop in Leeds called ‘Nurture your group’. This event gave members from six WDM groups the time and space to step back from the detail of campaign action planning, and look at the bigger picture. What successes and challenges had their groups experienced in the past and where did they visualise their groups going in the coming years? We hope to run similar events in the future elsewhere in the country, as a way of supporting groups to be effective in their communities and to enjoy their activism.

nurTure your grouP

Though most of the outcomes of the last UN climate talks were disappointing to dismal, one piece of great news was announced. The UK government finally declared it would not put any more overseas development aid into coal power stations. This is a welcome step forward, meaning it follows a growing global trend with multilateral banks and the US making similar announcements. The world is starting to wake up to the fact that burning coal needs to stop, something that wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the pressure WDM supporters, along with other groups, have been putting on the government about coal in recent years.

However, to make this announcement truly meaningful, private banks also need to be regulated to stop them from pouring money into dirty coal projects that are destroying communities and pushing the world to the burning point.

WDM activists have therefore been making good use of this announcement to push for this regulation. Local groups have been lobbying their MPs and over 4,300 supporters have emailed energy minister Ed Davey and development minister Justine Greening.

camPaign SucceSS: no more aid for coal

wdm hoSTS Tanzanian camPaigner

oPPoSing The eu-uS Trade dealThe Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is an ambitious agreement currently being negotiated by the European Commission and United States government and vociferously supported by David Cameron (see page 6). It is a corporate power grab, which if allowed to go ahead will have repercussions all around the world. WDM has been hosting an email action to MPs on behalf of the Trade Justice Movement coalition. At the time of going to press, 3,500 people had emailed their MP, making it our most successful ever email action specifically targeting MPs. An action postcard produced by WDM has also added to the pressure.

WDM is now working with other campaigning organisations and grassroots groups to call a day of action against TTIP on 21 June. To find our more or get involved, phone 020 7820 4900 or see www.wdm.org.uk/trade

members of the green group in the european Parliament demonstrate their opposition to TTiP.

Janet in SaT’s demonstration garden in morgoro, Tanzania

wdm in acTion action Spring/Summer 20145

A campaign launched on 1 April, highlighting how the nineteenth century scramble for Africa is happening once again, this time funded by UK aid money. Surely an April fool? Unfortunately not.

WDM’s new agribusiness campaign sees us continuing to work towards food sovereignty, which we started with our food speculation campaign. With the EU now having agreed legislation to limit speculation (see page 8), we’ve turned our sights to another form of food injustice: a corporate takeover of African food systems, fuelled by our aid budget.

The campaign has already got off to a flying start. We published a new report, Carving Up a Continent, which exposes how the UK government is backing initiatives to promote the interests of agribusiness in Africa to the tune of over £600 million.

The launch week also saw us dressing up as executives from some of the corporations that are benefiting from the schemes, including Monsanto and Unilever, and attempting to deliver an African-shaped cake to development secretary Justine Greening. While her assistant declined to help us carve up the cake, we made a video of the stunt which has already received several thousand views via social media (see www.wdm.org.uk/africa-cake).

The action has also provided inspiration for local groups to do stalls in their communities, asking passers-by whether they’d like a slice of deliciously profitable African cake.

Alongside this, we’ve launched an online action, asking people to sign a petition to Justine Greening to express concern about UK aid money being used to support this new wave of colonialism. So far, around ten thousand people have signed it.

In the coming weeks we’ll also be stepping up the pressure on MPs. As the political parties start looking towards the next general election in 12 months’ time, we want them to know that we want food sovereignty not corporate control.

Our main demands are addressed at the UK government’s Department for International Development. We want them to withdraw from the New Alliance and instead ensure that UK aid spending for food and agriculture is aligned with the principles of food sovereignty, as defined by small-scale food producers around the world.

In the coming months, we’ll also be focusing on the role of the multinational companies benefiting from schemes like the New Alliance. These include:

• Diageo – who sell Guinness, Gordon’s gin and Smirnoff vodka.

• SABMiller – who produce the Peroni and Grolsch brands of beer.

• Unilever – the company behind Marmite, Pot Noodle, Domestos and Lynx.

See page three for details of how you can take action.

who we’re TargeTing

camPaign launch: demand food SoVereignTy in africa

Shropshire wdm launches the campaign locally.

action Spring/Summer 20146gloBal JuSTice newS

Environmental and farmer organisations which had been calling for the European parliament to reject a proposal on plant reproductive material celebrated a success in March. The draft text, which they argued would promote control of seeds by corporations, was rejected by 650 to 15 votes in the European parliament.

The proposed seed regulation would have prevented European farmers from keeping and exchanging their own seed varieties, leading to a loss of genetic diversity. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that the genetic diversity of cultivated crops fell by 75 per cent during the 20th century.

Civil rights organisations have criticised the Ethiopian government for violently evicting people of the Lower Omo Valley to make way for lucrative sugar cane, cotton and palm oil plantations.

Large-scale irrigation of this area has been made possible by construction of the Gibe III Dam. The government plans to establish private and state-run sugar cane plantations, increasing sugar and biofuel production for export. Land has been leased out to Malaysian, Italian, Indian and Korean companies. While the Gibe III will provide growth for agribusiness, it will leave the local population in a situation of food scarcity as their traditional crops and cattle are dependent on the Omo’s annual flood.

“A large percentage of Ethiopia’s budget comes from Western donors,” said Lori Pottinger from International

Rivers. “These donors must play a bigger role in monitoring the situation now unfolding in the Lower Omo.” Ethiopia is one of ten African countries who have signed up to the G8’s New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.

mexican oil PriVaTiSaTion meeTS reSiSTanceIn January over 65,000 people took to the streets of Mexico City in protest over a recent law opening the national oil company, Petróleos Mexicano (Pemex), to partnerships with multinationals.

Trade unionists and the country’s parliamentary opposition charge that the legislation amounts to privatisation of the oil industry and delivery of profits to foreign corporations. Leftist leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador has warned multinationals that investing in Mexico’s oil would be “tantamount to piracy” as it “does not belong to President Enrique Peña Nieto, nor to the government, not even to the state, but rather to the people of Mexico. We will not sit around with our arms crossed. We will fight for the oil to remain in the hands of our nation.”

Pemex has been a source of pride for Mexicans since the oil industry was nationalised in 1938. It supports greater equality in the country as over 60 per cent of the state welfare budget is derived from oil taxes. The ruling coalition has used Pemex’s recent fall in revenue as an excuse to reform the constitution and push the law through without a referendum.

The oil sector will now come under the North American Free Trade Agreement, making the government vulnerable to lawsuits from foreign companies for alleged loss of profits. Jesus Zambrano, president of the opposition PRD, has called for a reversal: “The most probable outcome is that within a year and a half, a recall referendum will reject this change.”

The opening of Mexico’s oil industry is only the latest in a number of neoliberal reforms under the Pact for Mexico, a 2012 agreement between the main political parties.

eThioPianS eVicTed for PlanTaTion exPanSion

Seed ownerShiP regulaTionS Thrown ouT in euroPe

demonstration against the privatisation of the oil industry in mexico city.

The omo river in ethiopia.

Alex Cruz/Corbis

David Stanley/Flickr

Pietro Naj-Oleari/European Parliament

action Spring/Summer 20147gloBal JuSTice newS

Trade agreemenTS ThreaTen affordaBle medicine in SouTh-eaST aSia

Ambitious free trade agreements with South-East Asia would pose serious threats to access to medicines for the poor, according to a campaign network in the region.

“Medicines should be available on the basis of need rather than the ability to pay,” said Ana Maria Nemenzo of WomanHealth in the Philippines. “Sadly, [this principle] has been undermined over the years by the aggressive push for more restrictive patent regimes.”

She cited figures showing that health spending in the Philippines accounts for less than 4 per cent of GDP, with 56 per cent of all national spending on health coming from private, out-of-pocket expenses by

families, and only 44 per cent from government funds.

“It is under these stark conditions that policymakers must examine the impacts of intellectual property rights provisions under bilateral free trade agreements on peoples’ access to medicines. These provisions would compel developing countries to provide greater protections on patents, which would have serious public health implications,” she said.

Restrictive patent regulations are currently being discussed in negotiations for trade agreements between the European Union and Asian countries, as well as in talks spearheaded by the United States on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

On 10–14 March, representatives of the EU and US met in Brussels for talks on an agreement to create a free-trade area, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). They were challenged by an unprecedented coalition of environmental and anti-poverty groups, trade unions and consumer rights groups. WDM director Nick Dearden, who was in Brussels, said: “We all believe that TTIP will massively extend corporate power over our society. The negotiations are struggling because of opposition to this so-called ‘trade’ deal, especially in the US and Germany. Campaigns are now building here in Britain too. Starting this week, the EU has been forced to hold a ‘consultation’ on the most controversial element of TTIP, the investor tribunals.” These tribunals would allow corporations to sue governments if they felt any change in the law would reduce their future profits.

Given TTIP’s potential to undermine protection in areas such as health, education, water, sanitation and the environment, WDM has called for the deal to be abandoned. Recent research has shown that the economic advantages of TTIP have been exaggerated by the British government. Nick Dearden said that “we will use the consultation on investor tribunals – and the upcoming European elections – to build further awareness and opposition to TTIP.” Another round of negotiations was due to happen in May.

world Bank’S Billion dollar maP of africaThis July the World Bank will launch a $1 billion fund to map Africa’s mineral wealth using satellites and airborne surveys. The bank has invested $200 million on the groundwork for the project over the last ten years, and will develop a similar map for Latin America if this one is considered a success. Paulo de Sa, manager of the bank’s oil, gas and mining unit, said the mapping fund hoped to unearth up to $1 trillion worth of new mineral resources on the continent. He said that the UK government has expressed a preliminary interest in contributing to the fund.

The World Bank claims that further information regarding Africa’s geological resources will enable governments to meet targets for poverty alleviation and economic development. Critics have said that multinational mining corporations are the

only real beneficiaries, with profits flowing straight out of Africa. Mining in Africa has also caused social and environmental damage since the colonial period. Human Rights Watch recently reported that the Sierra Leone government and London-based African Minerals have forcibly relocated hundreds of families, undermining their access to food as they can no longer cultivate crops.

oPPoSiTion growS To eu–uS Trade deal

opposition to TTiP has been particularly strong in germany.

opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership has spanned developing and developed countries, including in Japan.

Gary John Norman/Panos

Jakob Huber/Cam

pact

Bauxite mining in ghana

Bloomberg via Getty Im

ages

food SPeculaTion action Spring/Summer 20148

WDM members and supporters have been crucial to winning our three-year campaign to limit food speculation writes heidi chow

no more hunger gameS

Brighton and hove wdm raise awareness about food speculation with some street theatre.

Sam Craw

ley/Brighton and Hove W

DM

Protest at Barclays’ agm.

food SPeculaTion

After three and a half years of relentless public campaigning by WDM supporters and local groups, in January 2014 the European Union finally reached an agreement to regulate food speculation. Although the agreement still contains a couple of loopholes, overall it is a historic step forward and includes measures we had feared would be lost due to financial sector lobbying. We turned food speculation into an issue that decision makers could not ignore and without continued public pressure the legislation would have been weak and ineffective.

The campaign was launched in 2010 in response to the global food crisis of 2007-8 which saw unprecedented rises in the price of staple foods. This led to food riots in major cities around the world and left millions hungry. Even after the crisis, food prices continued to soar at record levels. One of the key drivers behind the surge in food prices was excessive speculation in the financial markets by investment banks and hedge funds. As millions were going hungry, banks were raking in the profits.

Public pressure on the uk governmentWe identified an EU legislative process through which we could fight for regulation of this dangerous activity. The biggest opponent to regulating food speculation was the UK government. The government’s close relationship with the City of London meant that its priorities lay with defending the profits of the financial sector, rather than standing on the side of the poorest people in the world and their need to access affordable food. WDM supporters and local groups sent over 25,000 emails and letters to the Treasury, which is responsible for financial regulation, and we protested outside the Conservative party conference.

We exposed the scandalous partnership between the government and the financial sector as they colluded to whip up opposition to regulation. Treasury ministers had encouraged the City to co-ordinate lobbying efforts with the government and travelled to European capitals to persuade other governments to oppose tighter regulation. A Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Minister even offered the FCO’s services to support the financial industry in opposing strong regulation.

Many Action readers will have taken part in ‘Bankers Anonymous’ – a spoof recovery programme using the idea of bankers’ addiction to gambling on food. This was just one of the creative ways we engaged thousands of new people in taking part in the campaign.

exposing financial playersAlong the way we also exposed some of the biggest financial players profiting from food speculation. We revealed that Goldman Sachs made £500 million in two years from speculating on food. We also made sure the public knew about the complicity of British bank Barclays, which was the UK’s top food speculator and until last year, ranked in the top five global players. We nominated the bank for the Public Eye shame award and went in person to hand it to them. We made a video with the makers of the BAFTA award-winning show The Revolution will be Televised which spoofed what would happen if Barclays was totally candid about how it made its money.

Our local groups kept the pressure up as they turned up to protest outside local Barclays branches around the country. We also protested outside the bank’s AGM in London three

years in a row, as well as going inside the AGM to directly question the board about profiting from hunger. Concerned about the growing reputational damage we were inflicting on its brand, Barclays announced last year that it would withdraw from speculating on food.

influencing european legislationThis was great news. But behavioural change by banks was not enough, as Barclays could at any time start speculating on food again. So we kept pushing for regulatory change. We took the fight to Brussels, to influence the EU negotiations. We submitted consultation responses – WDM supporters responded overwhelmingly to the European Commission’s consultation on its legislative proposals and the Commission’s inbox couldn't cope and had to be closed!

WDM’s local groups played a crucial role in lobbying their MEPs, ensuring that almost all of the UK’s 72 MEPs had been contacted by a WDM group and over half were met in person. Working with our European allies, we organised headline grabbing stunts in Brussels and handed in a petition to the European parliament with over 100,000 signatures.

what next? The legislation was finally agreed at the beginning of the year and included our campaign demands for limits and transparency. There will now be an implementation process.

Obviously this piece of legislation on its own is not going to solve global hunger. That will take a wider and bigger movement which addresses the system, the politics and power dynamics that perpetuate hunger. WDM’S new food campaign is challenging the corporate takeover of African food and supporting the global movement for food sovereignty. But for now the new controls on food speculation will at least prevent banks from fuelling massive price instability and high food prices. Winning new regulation has been a collective effort by WDM members, local groups, supporters and staff and a real feat of public campaigning.

action Spring/Summer 20149

how much did we win?For the first time the EU has limits on the number of futures contracts which individual traders can hold. Towards the end of the EU negotiations, we were fighting hard to close loopholes in the text. Because of continued public pressure, most of our concerns have been addressed. A remaining loophole is that the limits will be set at national level rather than across the EU, so countries could compete to set weak limits. However the final agreement does include a methodology which could reduce the divergence between the limits set by different countries. This will be worked out during the implementation of the legislation.

WDM

a still from the video made for us by TV comedians The revolution will be Televised.

food SoVereignTy action Spring/Summer 201410

We’d been driving for nearly an hour along a dirt track when the camp suddenly appeared from the gathering dusk. As we got out of the car a group came to meet us, pleased to have visitors and keen to show us what they had constructed on the roadside in just one month. Many of the structures were still being built, but eventually the camp aimed to house 25 families. Each family lived in a black polythene and bamboo tent which they had tried to make as homely as possible. They didn’t know how long they would be living there. People had left homes and jobs in the city to join the camp and fight for their piece of land.

A few families were preparing dinner on hand-built wood burning stoves. In the distance Brazilian forró music was pumping out of the stereo of a parked car. The temperature was cooling as the evening set in, so it was hard to imagine what it must be like living in tents during Brazil’s hot summers with temperatures of well over 35°C.

“The camp is the movement’s struggle – through occupying, people break away from cultural norms, society and tradition and come together in the fight for land.” Irma Brunetto, MST activist at VI congress

The Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra or MST) is Brazil’s biggest social movement. With over 1.5 million members and 350,000 families living in legally-recognised settlements it has achieved incredible change for hundreds of thousands of people since it started in the 1980s. The MST emerged as a response to the problem of land concentration in Brazil, where less than 3 per cent of the population owns two-thirds of the land and more than half lies unused.

occupying for changeOccupations of unused land have been a crucial part of the Landless Workers Movement's struggle for agrarian reform. Some families spend more than ten years living in black polythene tents on a roadside, risking violence from police and armed guards. But the strategy has worked because the occupations force the government to enact a clause in the Brazilian constitution which allows land which is not performing its social function to be expropriated and granted to landless people.

The camp I visited was in the state of São Paulo. The families were hoping the land would be expropriated quickly, as the landowner was keen to sell the land and the government agency responsible for land distribution, INCRA, was already negotiating with them. They could then move onto their land, build houses

Militant and inspiring, Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Sarah reader encounters Latin America’s biggest social movement

Ninja Midia/Flickr

The polythene tents constructed by landless families in the camp Sarah visited in São Paulo state are typical of those across built across the country during the process of demanding land redistribution.

Sarah Reader/WDM

food SoVereignTy action Spring/Summer 201411

and start farming. This year the movement marked its thirtieth anniversary with its sixth national congress in Brasília. I attended on behalf of WDM, joining nearly 16,000 MST members and 200 international activists (mainly from other Latin American countries) to celebrate the movement’s successes and learn about its new programme for ‘popular agrarian reform’. The congress was also an important political moment for the MST, who after three years of being refused a meeting with President Dilma Rousseff, were invited to her office less than 24 hours after 15,000 activists marched through Brasília.

Popular agrarian reformThe MST does not impose a particular model of agriculture. MST members organise the struggle for their land themselves and have the right to farm it as they see fit. But ecological farming and collective organising are part of the MST’s vision for social change and it educates its members on the benefits of these. In fact education and training are central to the movement, and they use this to address sexism and other sources of inequality and prejudice too.

At the congress in Brasília the MST launched a new agenda, ‘popular agrarian reform’, in response to the increasing control of big corporations and finance over agriculture. Going beyond the simple redistribution of land,

the MST is now calling for a co-operative model of farming which is also free from toxic pesticides and genetically modified crops. Rural Brazil is increasingly being taken over by the vast ‘green deserts’ of single cash crop plantations such as soya and sugar cane. In opposition to this corporate takeover, the MST is fighting for a countryside which provides healthy food and a decent livelihood for all.

repression and solidaritySince the beginning, the MST has faced violence from the police and landowners, including massacres of people peacefully occupying land. The movement has also faced demonisation by the likes of major daily newspaper O Globo. In response solidarity groups emerged in Europe and the US. These have been crucial in spreading the story of the MST to activists in other countries by organising events with MST speakers and disseminating films and articles about the movement.

Many of these groups are also involved in opposing corporate control in their own countries too. The lesson they’ve learnt from the MST is that another world is possible, but it won’t come about without a struggle. As João Pedro Stedile, one of the MST’s founders, said during the congress: “There’s no such thing as a well behaved social movement.”

left: children from the movement protest at the ministry of education for more schools in the countryside.

left: a mural at the mST’s florestan fernandes national school near São Paulo which reads ‘agrarian reform for social justice and popular sovereignty’.

Below: delegates at the movement’s sixth national congress in a sports stadium in Brasília in february.

Sarah Reader/WDM

Ninja Midia/Flickr

action Spring/Summer 201412wdm relaunch

WDM’s council is proposing we relaunch the organisation next year. nick dearden makes the case for a change which could truly revitalise our fight for a world which puts people before profit

STanding wiTh Social moVemenTS

Our society is apathetic, selfish and narrow-minded. Young people have a 30-second attention span and only stop searching for celebrity news on their mobile phones to commit acts of anti-social behaviour. The only action most of us are capable of is clicking a computer mouse or making a purchase. No-one joins anything long-term. We are dominated by fear: of environmental collapse, economic catastrophe, terrorism.

That’s the impression you probably get from the media. It’s enough to depress the most hardened of campaigners – and doubtless that’s part of the point. For although most of us know this is a terrible caricature, it is such a strong framing that surely it haunts us all from time to time. These ideas nag at us, feeding the idea that really big change is impossible.

That’s why WDM is more important than ever. Although founded in a different time, a more radical time, we have stayed true to our core values. We still believe in really big change, not tinkering at the edges of the world’s problems, not covering up injustices because we think nothing better is possible. Where would we be if those who went before us, like the movements against slavery and empire, made such compromises?

change from below: residents of el alto in Bolivia block a highway in 2011 to demand basic public services such as water and drainage.

Aizar Raldes/AFP/Getty Images

wdm relaunch action Spring/Summer 201413

from the grassrootsWe also still believe in bringing people together in a movement, because all really big change has come from the grassroots – from ordinary people who come together to do something about injustice. WDM is not just a body of paid staff in an office in London, and if we were we would have only a fraction of the success we do. Rather WDM is the thousands of people throughout the UK who participate in changing things in many different ways.

This way of doing things is what makes WDM special and relevant. It accounts for our ongoing popularity even when we speak of ideas so challenging to the powerful. These ideas and values are the essence of WDM.

But the world has changed in 40 years. Responding to these changes doesn’t mean compromising or changing the fundamentals of our movement – just making them clearer for new generations.

We are still coming to grips with the gradual but clear breakdown of the concepts of ‘First World’ and ‘Third World’ on which we once based ourselves. Of course the global south remains poorer than the global north. But the growth of extremely rich elites in parts of the south and severe poverty in parts of Europe has changed the picture of what ‘development’ might mean today.

rising inequalityThe rise of inequality to levels which threaten the stability of the global economy is a regular topic for journalists and even financial institutions – yet it is only getting worse. The majority of people believe the world cannot continue to develop through use of fossil fuels – yet more are burnt than ever. Financial markets have penetrated every aspect of our society, building unsustainable debts and subjecting ever more public services to the logic of the market. Corporations have become richer and more powerful than states.

On the other hand, large and courageous movements have arisen across the world to challenge the injustice of this

system. In Latin America, once the heartland of brutal, Western-backed dictators and then free market technocratic governments, these movements have brought about massive change, developing new forms of decision-making and participation, as well as fundamentally shaking the global ‘free market’ consensus.

Of particular importance, the idea of development, once clearly at the heart of WDM’s vision, is today a compromised term. To many of the people we express solidarity with, development means simply the handing over of resources to big business and growth which only benefits the elite.

engaging with a changed worldSo the world – and language – has changed. How do we continue to be relevant without changing our values? It’s precisely to address this question that we have planned to relaunch WDM early next year with, if the membership agrees to it, a new name.

This is not a decision to be taken lightly and has involved a good deal of consultation and discussion across our movement. It’s not a proposal that’s been made because we’re in crisis and neither will a new name magically make us more successful. But, together with a lot of hard work, relaunching WDM could allow us to convey our message and express our values to many more people, including through an ambitious programme of relaunch activities.

Of course there is some truth to the idea that people feel disenfranchised by official politics. But in such a world, what could be more necessary than an organisation which actually speaks of the radical changes needed in our world to deal with the huge injustices we face? An organisation which brings people together and provides the long-term infrastructure to help build a movement capable of creating these changes? An organisation which, by working with social movements around the world and here in Britain, brings hope to this movement by showing that another world is not just possible – it is being built.

elite club: for many people, Bono and Bill gates are key figures in the fight against poverty, but they advocate none of the structural changes that would make a real difference.

World Econom

ic Forum

action Spring/Summer 201414ScoTTiSh indePendence

The Scottish independence referendum is creating opportunities to debate what kind of world we want to see, whatever your view of Scotland’s future. liz murray reports

On 18 September this year, the Scottish people will be asked the question: ‘Should Scotland be an independent country?’ A straightforward-sounding question, to which we will answer a straightforward yes or no. But beneath the simplicity of this question lies a complex web of issues including identity, history, politics, prestige, power, solidarity and democracy, not to mention emotion – all of which are being exposed, explored and debated to one extent or another as the independence referendum approaches.

While some outside Scotland may see the independence referendum as a solely Scottish issue, actually its importance goes beyond the border as it shines a light on the issues of power and democracy across the United Kingdom and beyond. And whatever the outcome of the referendum, its very existence has given new energy to debate about the need for change in politics and power. Once the issue of national sovereignty is raised so systematically, questions about the need for other kinds of sovereignty in a globalised world follow – why not democratic control for example over markets, corporations, global trade and the food system?

There are many reasons why the independence referendum has come about, but perhaps most relevant to WDM’s work is a growing sense that the ‘traditional’ system of politics in Westminster is outdated and unaccountable. That same system is failing to address the root causes of poverty and inequality and to implement just solutions. This can be clearly seen in the government’s response to both the financial and climate crises.

With London having disproportionate financial and political power in the UK, and the financial institutions in the City of London having disproportionate influence over the political classes and decisions made in London, the opportunity for change being brought about by the Scottish independence referendum gives the chance to, as one commentator put it, ‘reboot Britain’ and influence a much-needed response to a crisis in the established order.

But crucial to this is that the voice of the people is heard above that of the corporate and financial interests which are driving the global crises. Big business has waded into the Scottish independence debate in an unprecedented and disturbing way, trying to protect its own interests. It seems that every day in the Scottish media there is another corporate voice telling Scots which way to vote. And as a result of this interference, the mainstream media has mainly focused on the issues of economics, debt, currency, European Union and offshore oil in its coverage of the independence referendum, overlooking so many other crucial issues.

Thankfully there is also a thriving, energetic and creative civil society debate going on. On social media, at public meetings, film screenings, debates and on doorsteps there are lively, broad-based and informed conversations. WDM has contributed to this with our ‘2014 Matters’ programme of debates across Scotland on social, economic and environmental justice, looking at what independence and continued union (including the possibility of further devolution) means for all those issues. And it has given us the chance to directly challenge pro-independence and pro-union spokespeople on some of WDM’s key campaign issues of trade, debt, tax and economic justice.

With more than 500 people attending, including politicians from all parties, as well as many more taking part on twitter, there is clearly widespread interest in exploring and debating these important issues. Other progressive organisations have also been using the referendum debate to highlight their own campaigns, such as Jubilee Scotland’s successful work to get positive commitments on sovereign debt included in the independence white paper.

The referendum question itself may be focused on Scotland, but its very existence is a wake-up call about the need for a radical, cohesive agenda for reform across the UK.

for more on 2014 matters, including podcasts from some of the events, visit www.2014-matters.org

a queSTion of SoVereignTy

outside the official ‘yes’ coalition, others are campaigning for independence with a strongly progressive vision of Scotland.

noTiceBoard action Spring/Summer 201415

grouPS and acTiViSTS’ conference Saturday 13 September, Nottingham

a memBerShiP BooSTThe financial sector increasingly concentrates wealth and power into the hands of a small minority. WDM’s campaigns target banks in the UK which are implicated in some of the worst injustices in developing countries. While we continue to campaign to address the structural causes of poverty and inequality, we don’t have to save money in the very banks we are exposing. Alternative banks and savings schemes exist, which take into account their impact on people and planet. One of these banks is Triodos, which only lends the money saved with it to organisations that have a social or environmental benefit.

Triodos Bank also supports wdm by donating £40 when you open a savings account with them. for more visit: www.triodos.co.uk/wdm

Join an eThical Bank

2015 will be a hugely important year for WDM. The renaming and relaunch proposal which will be put to the AGM could be a real opportunity to push out with our influence and bring lots of new people on board to take action for global justice. And part of the relaunch plan is to start developing opportunities for taking action in new and exciting ways.

The staff activism team has started developing a strategy to make this happen. This includes ways to move people on from quick and easy online actions to a deeper engagement in changing the world and a greater range of support for local activism. One of the aims of the groups and activists’ conference is to bring together our most active members to discuss this strategy before it is finalised and agreed by WDM’s council. We will also have briefings on key issues, skillsharing sessions and a space to discuss the practical implications of the relaunch, and the opening session will look at how we make a political impact and be addressed by the shadow minister for civil society, lisa nandy mP.

Further details will be available soon, including on our website at www.wdm.org.uk/activism-conference. You can register online, or using the paper form enclosed with the mailed version of Action. For enquiries, including cheap accommodation options, email activism@wdm.org.uk

10am-6pm at friends meeting house, 25 clarendon Street, nottingham ng1 5Jd

notice of annual general meetingWDM’s Annual General Meeting will take place at 11.45am in Nottingham Friends Meeting House as part of the groups and activists’ conference. All members are invited to attend whether you wish to come to the whole conference or not. Alongside the normal items of business, there will be a special resolution to change the name of WDM. Details of this resolution and of the draft agenda for the AGM are included as an insert with this issue of Action for all members.

Expanding the democratic control people have over their lives is an essential part of challenging the root causes of poverty and inequality. So it’s no surprise that WDM is a democracy too. Members get a say through our AGM, council elections and representative structures for local groups. This isn’t just the right thing to do, it gives us legitimacy and a strong campaigning voice.

WDM is a limited company and a charity. It makes sense for people to donate money to our charitable arm because it allows us to claim Gift Aid on your donation – in other words to claim the tax back. But it is the non-charitable arm which actually has members and a democratic structure. So in 2013 we made some changes to allow us to give membership to people who donated at least the equivalent of the membership fee to the charitable trust. Happily this means we not only have a bigger secure income, but 2,000 new members who now have more of a say in our future.

Participants at our not the g8 conference

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make a BeTTer fuTure PoSSiBle

“local wisdom tells us to protect nature and the forest. we pass it down from generation to generation. it has been passed from our ancestors through to us and we will pass it to future generations.” Abah Ugi, community leader in Mount Halimun, Indonesia

WDM campaigners met Abah Ugi and his community while researching the devastation caused by coal mining in Indonesia. Coal represents an energy future of runaway climate change where the world’s poorest people will be hardest hit. But Abah Ugi’s community knows the importance of providing for future generations. They are doing this by using renewable energy run through a local co-op. This improves energy access without contributing to climate change or causing any of the damage that coal mining does.

you too can provide for future generations, by leaving a gift in your will to the world development movement.

After taking care of those closest to you, including WDM in your will can ensure that you keep winning justice for future generations even after you’re gone.

Please let us know if you would like further information, or have already included WDM in your will, by completing the form and returning it to us at wdm, 66 offley road, london Sw9 0lS. Alternatively you can email leaveagift@wdm.org.uk, or call us on 020 7820 4900.

I have already left a gift to WDM in my will

I am going to leave a gift to WDM in my will but haven’t yet

I am thinking about leaving a gift to WDM in my will and would like some more information

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